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[-] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca 94 points 16 hours ago

I don't know, they're not all created the same. When I'm in the pool, I let bees land on me, or will fish them out of the water with my hands. Paper wasps look super frightening, but they're even more docile than honey bees. Yellow jackets on the other hand are complete assholes. We had a nest of them in the yard once and they would go way out of their way to sting people, just for the hell of it. Like not anyone close to the nest or anything, just someone on the patio chilling. I would leave a beehive, but I eradicated the yellow jacket nest.

[-] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 29 points 14 hours ago

Yellow jackets on the other hand are complete assholes. We had a nest of them in the yard once and they would go way out of their way to sting people, just for the hell of it.

This was my experience too. I had thought that bees had moved into a bush in my yard. I was happy to have bees there. A week later I was mowing the grass and felt several stabs of pain on my back and wrist. I turn around and see the air is filled with them. I had swatted one in my escape and had a corpse to inspect later and found it was a Yellow jacket wasp. From a distance I could see they were entering and exiting a hole near the bottom of the bush. A quick internet search later I knew that they were nearly dormant at night, and that they need a special oil they produce on the outside of their body to breath. Dawn dish soap apparently strips that away and they die, and its not toxic to the ground or environment.

I put half a bottle of Dawn squirted into their hole at the bottom of the bush at night. I never saw another Yellowjack wasp.

[-] Grail@multiverse.soulism.net 3 points 4 hours ago

Live by the stinger, die by the stinger

[-] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca 11 points 14 hours ago

Ugh, sounds awful, but glad you found a solution. I don't remember what I put down the hole they had at the base of a tree. Wasn't dawn, I don't think.

[-] partial_accumen@lemmy.world 14 points 14 hours ago

I wasn't prepared for those stings on my skin to still be hurting some a week later.

[-] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca 9 points 14 hours ago

Oh, they're SO painful. Really unnecessarily nasty.

[-] Mpatch@lemmy.world 27 points 15 hours ago

Yep, paper wasps are chill as fuck. I had a hive of them living on my deck under the hand rail. I'd go out and chill with them daily with my coffee during that summer. They would stare at me for a bit. Then get back to eating bits of my deck.

[-] AmbientChaos@sh.itjust.works 28 points 13 hours ago* (last edited 13 hours ago)

I'm so confused, the paper wasps around here are territorial assholes. Had a nest built on my porch and had to stop using that door. We let them be because we built the house in their woods, but they were definitely not chill at all haha

Edit: Did some learning, the regional species of paper wasps we encounter are known not only for their aggression but also their vastly more painful sting. Wonderful!

[-] Droechai@piefed.blahaj.zone 1 points 43 minutes ago

Which region if I may ask? Id love to know where never to camp ;)

[-] AFKBRBChocolate@lemmy.ca 6 points 14 hours ago

They're fun to watch because they often grab caterpillars from plants and take them away or eat them nearby. Great for gardens.

[-] blackbrook@mander.xyz 35 points 16 hours ago

I don't know if this is true but I've heard yellow jackets get intoxicated on fermenting fruit and become mean drunks.

[-] booscience@beehaw.org 23 points 15 hours ago

It’s true, I used to be a yellow jacket

[-] TheFrirish@tarte.nuage-libre.fr 4 points 12 hours ago* (last edited 12 hours ago)

What do you mean? Are you not French anymore?

this post was submitted on 09 Jun 2026
841 points (99.0% liked)

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