RVA Yellow Jacket Removal specializes in the LOW COST removal of live, UNSPRAYED yellowjacket nests– without the use of chemicals!
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Chemical-Free Removal
After setting up a mutually agreeable day and time, we arrive at your destination clothed in a full protective bee suit, gloves and boots. We then place a small vacuum powered trap next to the entrance of the nest. Next, we disturb the nests and vacuum up the insects as they come out to defend their colony. We continue to vacuum at the entrance of the nest for up to an hour in order to collect most of the foraging workers as they return home.
Once we have collected the live insects, we immediately freeze them using dry ice (CO2) to preserve their venom. We then remove the nest itself along with the paper combs and tidy up the remaining debris. All that remains is a $50 service fee using Venmo or Cash App for removals within a 5 mile radius of our Lakeside location. $75-$100 for removals further out.
We only collect *UNSPRAYED* nests!
Insects that are treated with any pesticides or chemicals of ANY sort are not allowed for use in human allergy immunotherapy. Therefore, we will not collect yellow jacket nests that have been sprayed, drenched, or where an extermination has been attempted. We will not attempt to remove the nest or insects if we arrive and find this to be the case. The customer is still responsible for the service charge.
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So please, leave the nest alone and call us for removal.
Bee kind to Honey bees!
In addition to removing yellow jackets, we are also beekeepers and have a genuine affection for these often misunderstood pollinators. If you ever happen upon a honeybee swarm or an established honey bee hive, DO NOT SPRAY IT! Give us a call and we can refer you to a local beekeeper for live rescue or extraction.
We do not remove Bumblebees! ...Or any other solitary bee species.
Unless disturbed, most bumblebee species are not aggressive and stings from them are rare. Bumblebees have a very short annual lifecycle, typically between two and three months. Along with a number of other species, such as Leafcutter, Mason, Sweat, and Carpenter bees, they are amazing and vital pollinators! For this reason, we do not remove bumble bee nests. Check out this guide to view a few of the most common "yellow stripey things" to help identify your particular insect.
Eastern Yellow Jackets
Vespula maculifrons are commonly found throughout eastern North America to the Great Plains. In most of the areas where it is found, V. maculifrons is the most common yellowjacket species. In the spring, the queen selects the spot where the colony will be located. Nests have been found from just under the surface to almost 10 inches deep. Their nests are so frequently found in recreational and residential areas.
Each Spring a fertile queen begins the initial structure of a nest by chewing wood and adding in saliva to make a quick-drying pulp to create cells for depositing eggs. Other cells are then added to the sides of the first and an envelope is built around the first group of cells which form a miniature comb. The queen then lays eggs in these cells, which will become workers upon emergence. As soon as the workers emerge from their larval state, the nest begins to enlarge rapidly. To make room for more cells, the inner layers of the envelope are rechewed and used to make more envelope layers outside.
A colony consists of three types of individuals in a social group: queens, workers, and males (drones). Until the first offspring emerge as adults, the lone queen lays eggs, forages for food, cares for the young, and defends the nest. Because most of the nests are located underground, the cavity in which the nest is built is enlarged by removing soil, and dropping it outside the nest.
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Only worker and queen yellow jackets are capable of stinging. This is a response to outside noise and vibration, which is percieved as a threat to the colony. Yellow jackets can can sting repeatedly. Males (drones) have no stinger. Their sole purpose is to mate with a virgin queen to insure the continuation of the speciies.
In our area colonies peak around August or September. When winter arrives comes, the colony dies and only some of the queens survive to begin a new colony the next nesting cycle.