A. It is actually true that Yellow Jackets become a bit more annoying at the end of summer and in early fall. The reason for this is due to a change in their diet, a change that often brings them a little closer to people!
Early in the season, adult Yellow Jackets are busy looking for sources of protein to feed the larvae. At this time, Yellow Jackets are great at pest control as they forage on flies, caterpillars, mosquitoes, beetle larvae and other insects. When the adults bring insects back to the nest, the larvae eat it and, in the process, produce a sugary substance that is eaten by the adults.
However, later in the season, the queen stops laying eggs, there is no longer large numbers of larvae to feed so the adults need to find another source for their sugar. This is where we come in! Our barbeque, picnics, ice-cream shops, fruit stands at the market and even garbage cans become great foraging sites for them.
This behaviour doesn’t last too long though. Yellow Jackets won’t survive our first hard frost, except for the queens who are able to survive the winter.
