All Hail the Yellow Jacket Queen

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It’s that time again when we start seeing bees and wasps, specifically, the yellow jacket queen. The only yellow jacket member to survive the winter is the fertilized queen. The queen over winters in places such as in stumps, under bark, leaf litter, soil cavities, and man-made structures. She will emerge in early spring, select a nest site which maybe above-ground or underground nests; both are constructed of fine plant fibers combined with saliva and appear to be made of newspaper.  She lays her eggs in newly formed cells and when the larvae hatch she feeds them foraged materials. All the larvae grow to be infertile female adults and they assume the responsibilities of building and defending the colony, as well as feeding the new larvae. At peak size, reproductive cells are built with new males and queens produced. Adult reproductive leave the parent colony to mate. After mating, males quickly die, while fertilized queens build up fat reserves and seek protected places to overwinter. Parent colony workers dwindle, leaving the old queen and nest to die.  

gogreenpestcontrol.ca Ladner Tsawwassen Delta B.C. Randy Bilesky

https://www.linkedin.com/pulse/all-hail-yellow-jacket-queen-randy-bilesky?published=t

http://www.delta-optimist.com/opinion/blogs/blog-all-hail-the-yellow-jacket-queen-1.13215468