Wednesday Wings - Yellowjackets

Along the most far loop of our dog walking path is an old lawn chair, frequently used for sitting and enjoying the surrounding nature.

The yellowjackets (wasps) declared it the perfect place to build a hidden nest under the seat. Fortunately Bob spotted it before I sat on it.

Not knowing what he was doing but feeling like some action was required, Bob took a looooooong stick, tipped the chair over, and whacked the nest in two. He erroneously assumed the yellowjackets would move on to some other location.

The main part of the nest is on the ground by the left most leg.


The important part of the nest, the part with the queen, remained attached to the chair.

Bob didn't stick around to see if his stick was long enough for him to avoid detection.

After the yellowjackets determined there was nothing around to sting, they set to work rebuilding under the chair.


In just a few days the nest was almost closed in again.


It took four days for the nest to return to normal.

The nest will be smaller that it would have been left undisturbed, but it appears to be healthy and functional to continue the yellowjacket lifecycle.


What are we going to do now? Leave them in peace, admiring their hard work as we walk by. Once we have the first hard frost, all the yellowjackets except the queen will die. She will leave the nest to hibernate in a protected place. The nest will never be used again and the chair can return to normal use.