Death to the Queen

Unlike honeybees (Apis mellifera), who over-winter as an entire colony containing thousands of individual bees, yellow jacket wasps (Vespula vulgaris, Vespula germanica) do not over-winter in a colony.  It is only the mated yellow jacket queen who survives to establish a new colony of these nasty insects.  The queen hibernates in a protected location to emerge in the spring to start a new nest site. 

Yellow jacket wasps have historically nested within the walls of the old pump house until I began hanging this trap.  Baited with a pheromone attractant this has been a very successful method of capturing and drowning the mated queen before she is able to start laying eggs for the season. 

These are non-native wasps that serve little purpose as pollinators.  They will sting both people and animals without provocation.  They are insect sociopaths. 

Death to the queen.