The Baldfaced Hornet
The Baldfaced hornet is sometimes called the white-faced hornet, but is actually a yellowjacket. It's easy to spot since it's our only black and white yellowjacket. Its nest is a gray "paper" envelope with several layers of combs inside. A mature nest is bigger than a basketball, but pear-shaped, with the larger end at the top and an entrance hole near the bottom.
A single, over wintering queen begins building the nest in the spring. She lays eggs and tends the first batch of larvae that develop into workers. These workers tend new larvae and expand the nest throughout the summer. A mature colony can have several hundred workers by the end of the summer. In fall, workers die and next year's queens find over wintering sites.
Baldfaced hornets are beneficial, capturing insects (often including other yellowjackets) to feed to their larvae. Though larger than other yellowjackets, Baldfaced hornets are generally more docile. But they can become aggressive and will sting when their nest is disturbed or threatened.
A Baldfaced nest is usually constructed high in a tree. In these cases the nest is best left alone.
Occasionally you will find a Baldfaced nest built on the side of a building, in low shrubbery, or even in an attic or shed. Nests in these sited will probably need to be eliminated.
How Do We Remove Them?
One of the pest management experts at McMahon Exterminating will visit your home and provide a proper assessment and ID the bugs that are infesting your home or property to better understand the type of insects or pests that they are dealing with to properly coordinate a plan that will work best for you.
We help educate the customer on things that they might be able to do to help deter the pests as well, and will try to prevent this from becoming a reocurring infestation.
The treatment will begin and we will monitor the situtaion closely to make sure that the numbers are being depleted in the area. We want to try to deter the insects from coming to your area as opposed to just chemically treating them, as that will only be a short term solution for you but with McMahon's C.A.N. initiative and our three easy steps — Canvas the area, Act on those results, and Negate re-entry for the pest, we can work to getting your home to pest free status.
