Yellow Jackets can be found throughout Ontario. These wasps tend to be medium sized and receive their common name from their black with jagged bands of typically bright yellow or white on their abdomen. Adult workers about 10 to 16mm long depending on the species, with queens averaging between 13 to 20mm long.

Colonies are begun each spring by a single reproductive female, nest populations can reach up to 10000 individuals, depending on the species. Wasps build a nest of paper made from fibers scraped from wood mixed with saliva. The adults are represented by workers which are sterile females, queens, and males which come from unfertilized eggs and usually appear in late summer. Typically only inseminated queens over winter and do so in sheltered places. In the spring a queen uses chewed up cellulose material to build a paper nest of a few cells. This nest will eventually consist of 30 to 60 cells covered by a paper envelope.

One egg is laid in each cell and the queen feeds the developing larvae arthropod protein material and nectar. After about 30 days the first 5 to 7 workers emerge and shortly thereafter take over all the work except egg laying. The nest will eventually consist of a number of rounded paper combs which are attached one below another. Nests can on average can contain anywhere from 500 to 6000 workers. Later in the season larger reproductive cells are built in which queens will be reared; males are usually reared in old worker cells. The colony is then entering the declining phase. The newly emerged queens and males leave the nest and mate. Only the inseminated queens hibernate and survive the winter, the original queen, workers and the males all die.

Depending on the species, the over wintered queen will usually select either a subterranean or aerial nesting site. Some wasps use ground nests, however other nest in buildings, garages, sheds and also shrubs and bushes. Wasps provide guards near the entrance to the nest to protect the colony. Yellow jackets can become very aggressive if you approach there nests entrance or general vicinity. And remember wasps when they attack can each sting numerous times.

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