Bothered by Bees or Wasps?

Many people mistake wasps and bees, particularly yellowjacket wasps and honey bees. Although they are cousins, they have very different appearances, behaviors, and nesting habits. 

This page provides a quick overview to help tell them apart and understand what to do if you find either near your home. For an in-depth comparison, visit the Wasps and Bees webpage. 

General Differences 

Wasps

  • Shiny bodies with little noticeable hair
  • Eat other insects (soft bodied caterpillar, spiders); beneficial predators
  • Carnivores attracted to meat and sweet soft drinks
  • Can sting multiple times

Bees

  • Fuzzy or hairy appearance
  • Eat pollen and nectar; beneficial pollinators
  • Not attracted to meat and most soft drinks
  • Honey bees sting once and die afterward (other bee species may sting more than once)

Yellowjackets or Honey Bees?

Yellowjackets (Wasps)

  • Yellow and black banded; shiny
  • Social colony; nest made of greyish paper envelope
  • Usually nest underground in a burrow and are readily seen rapidly flying in and out
    • If they are living in the wall of a house, you will not see the paper nest, but you will see them flying in and out
  • Can sting multiple times
  • Annual colonies: all workers die after two hard frosts; only queens overwinter
  • Do not produce or store honey
A yellowjacket wasp on a green leaf.
Photo courtesy of Jim Nelson CC BY-NC 4.0.

Honey bees

  • Orange-yellow or brown and black banded; fuzzy
  • Nest in hives, tree cavities, or walls - not in the ground
  • Nest made of beeswax
  • Can only sting once; die after stinging
  • Perennial colonies: survive winter by clustering together and consuming stored honey 
  • The only bee species that stores large amounts of honey 
Two honey bees on a frame filled with shiny nectar
Photo courtesy of Judy Griesedieck.

 

Nest materials

Yellowjackets 

Build a greyish-brown paper envelope around the nest. 

Papery, round nest hanging from tree branch.
Yellowjacket nest. Photo courtesy of Jeremy Yoder CC BY-NC-ND 2.0.

Hornets 

Another type of social wasp. They build exposed paper nests in trees or structures. Hornets generally do not pester people as frequently as yellowjackets. 

Honey bees 

Build vertical combs of wax. Their nests do not have a paper envelope around it. If visible, the combs appear whitish-yellow and are typically covered by bees. It is highly unusual to see a honey bee colony in an exposed location, as in this photo, because they nest inside cavities, such as tree cavities, bee boxes, or other manmade structures.

Layers of comb attached to the underside of a wooden beam.
An exposed honey bee nest. Photo courtesy of Max Westby CC BY-NC-SA 2.0. 

Honey bees or Yellowjackets in or around your home? 

If you have yellowjackets

Yellowjackets are a social wasp whose colonies die out naturally after two hard frosts. If they are not bothering you, consider whether you can tolerate them for the remainder of the season. They are beneficial predators that help control insect pests. 

If you cannot live with them, extermination may be necessary. Keep in mind that by late summer or fall, the colony has been present all season; if they have not caused problems yet, they likely will not start. 

If you have honey bees 

A honey bee colony nesting in a wall of your house is different. Honey bees are beneficial pollinators and are typically managed by beekeepers. If you cannot live with them, removal typically requires both a contractor and a beekeeper to perform a cut-out. 

Honey Bee Swarms and Cut-outs

A honey bee swarm is a temporary cluster of honey bees that have left their hive to find a new home. This is the honey bees' way of reproducing and is a natural process. Though swarms may find a new home inside tree cavities, they sometimes find the wall of your house of soffits to be a suitable new home. 

When a swarm establishes itself inside a structure (i.e., soffits, walls), a cut-out is often necessary. This involves removing a fully established honey bee colony from within the structure. Typically, a honey bee colony cannot be removed through the entrance hole alone; the wall or siding of the house must be removed to access the entire nest. Contractors may be necessary to safely remove and then repair structural materials. 

Swarm removal and cut-outs are rarely handled by pest control. A beekeeper should be contacted for assistance with the bees, and a contractor may be necessary for most cut-out situations. 

Additional Information

Wasps and Bees by Katie Lee, Jeffery Hahn, Laura Jesse, and Patrick Liesch

For more information on honey bee removal, visit the Minnesota Hobby Beekeepers Association's honey bee swarm webpage.