Wasp Control & Nest Removal in Kansas City

Stinging insects around Kansas City homes follow a yearly cycle. Queens start small nests in April and May. Colonies grow all summer and peak in late August and September — the point when yellowjackets turn defensive and a bumped nest can send out hundreds of workers. Hard frost ends the season; old nests are not reused.

Where the nest is decides the job. Open paper wasp nests under the eaves are the simplest. Yellowjacket nests in the ground or inside a wall are treated through the entrance so the colony dies in place — sealing the hole too early is how they end up inside the house.

We leave pollinators alone. Honey bees, bumble bees and most solitary bees are not treated; if a honey bee swarm or colony is involved, we'll tell you straight and point you to a beekeeper. More on that in bee-friendly pest control.

Two big wasps cause a lot of worry and very little harm. Mud daubers build tubes of mud on siding, under decks and in garages; they live alone, hunt spiders, and rarely sting. Cicada killers are the large yellow-and-black wasps digging holes in lawns and bare soil in July and August. The males that dart at you can't sting, and the females rarely do unless handled or stepped on.

Only mated queens survive the winter. They tuck into sheltered spots — under loose bark, in woodpiles, wall voids and attics — which is why a single slow-moving wasp sometimes turns up indoors on a warm day in winter or early spring. In April and May each queen picks a site and builds a small nest by herself.

Once her first workers hatch, the queen stays home laying eggs and the workers take over building and foraging. Through June and July the colony grows quietly. By late summer a paper wasp nest may hold a few dozen wasps, while a yellowjacket nest in a wall or the ground can hold thousands. Late in the season the colony raises new queens and males, the workers switch from hunting insects to looking for sugar, and that's when they crowd patios, trash cans and open soda cans. The late-summer yellowjacket surge is the most common reason for a call. The first hard freezes of late fall kill the workers.

A steady line of wasps flying in and out of the same spot is the giveaway: a hole in the lawn, a gap in the siding, a soffit corner, a weep hole in brick, or a gap around a light fixture. Watch from a distance around midday, when traffic is heaviest, to find the entrance.

Wasps showing up inside on windows in late summer usually mean a nest in a wall or the attic. A papery, rustling or chewing sound in a wall is another sign. A gray, football-shaped paper nest in a tree or shrub belongs to bald-faced hornets, which defend it hard.

Check eaves, porch railings, playsets, grill covers and the mailbox every couple of weeks in April and May. A paper wasp nest the size of a walnut with one or two wasps on it is easy to deal with then; the same nest in August is not.

Make your yard less interesting to yellowjackets in late summer: keep trash cans lidded, rinse recycling, cover drinks outdoors (they crawl into cans), pick up fallen fruit, and feed pets indoors. In winter, after the colonies have died, repair torn vent screens and caulk gaps in siding and soffits so next year's queens have fewer places to start.

Yellowjacket traps catch foraging workers and can help around a patio, but they don't kill the nest. Hang them away from where people sit, not next to it.

Plugging the entrance of a wall or soffit nest: the colony chews inward and comes out inside the house. Pouring gasoline into a ground nest or setting it on fire: it's how people get burned and start fires, and it contaminates the soil. Spraying a nest with a garden hose, knocking it down in daylight, or mowing over a ground nest you know is there all end the same way — with stings.

Fake paper "decoy" nests have little evidence behind them, and yellowjackets in particular don't seem to avoid them.

Call for any nest in the ground, inside a wall, attic or soffit, or in a tree or shrub; any nest beside a door, deck or play area; wasps getting into the house; or anyone in the household with a sting allergy. We'll get to you as fast as we can.

One note on safety: trouble breathing, swelling of the face or throat, or dizziness after a sting is a medical emergency. Call 911 first.