2006/07/19

6' x 3' Yellow Jacket Nest

Rising up out of the water, it looks like another tree stump from a distance. But a closer look is enough to take your attention, and maybe your breath.

Hundreds of thousands of yellow jackets swarm in and around their nest on Shelley and Tony Roberts' pond. They can't believe it got so big so quick.

It looks to be about six feet tall and three feet wide. No one's gotten close enough to measure.

When it started to grow, the Robertses wondered what the jackets were using for bricks and mortar. Then they noticed a change in their split rail fence.

"First of all, we thought the sun was bleaching our fence, but we noticed where the yellow jackets were landing," said Shelley. "They're eating the bark off the fence and they're building their nest with it."

They turn the wood to a pulp of sorts and build layer by layer, sometimes several inches in a week.

I don't think that there is a big enough can of raid for that sucker. So, may I suggest something a bit more direct than poison.

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