Knowledgebase
Bee ID and solution #890092
Asked November 20, 2024, 2:47 PM EST
I’m a homeowner with a beehive in a basement window well. Can you help me identify what kind of bee this is? I’m told it’s not a honeybee. Once I know I can decide how to deal with the nest. (I wonder if bees in general die off in the winter with freezing temperatures or just “go to sleep.”)
Adams County Colorado
Expert Response
Thank you for your question. The insect you have here appears to be a yellowjacket wasp, but typically they are ground nesters, rather than builders so I'm not sure that is their nest (it's possible they were eating the insect that made that nest). That said, yellowjacket colonies begin new each year and typically do not return to the same site so you should be able to do nothing, keep an eye on the area, and be OK. In future you can put up the yellow wasp traps in late April/early May to catch emerging queens as they begin to establish a new colony. Let me know if you have additional questions.
Thanks so much for your response, Cassey. I hadn’t seen any wasps around for a day or so and after a night of temps in the 20’s I thought maybe they had all died so I decided to scrape off the hive. But first I thought it might go easier if I poured some water on it and let it sink in for a while. I dumped a cup of water on the top of the hive and the whole thing immediately came down in a puddle! Just washed away! A half dozen wasps flew out from behind where it was to see what had happened. Apparently their nest was in a crack where dirt had settled away from the basement concrete wall so that’s kind of like ground nesting. Pretty clever. The temp probably never gets below 50 degrees or so (I know it doesn’t in my basement). The hive you see in the picture was only their “front door.”
I was going to buy some wasp killer this weekend to spray in the opening but after reading your response, I think I’ll just leave things as they are. I like the idea of traps next spring. Thank you, I’ve learned a lot about wasps from all this. J
Mike K
From: ask=<personal data hidden> [mailto:ask=<personal data hidden>] On Behalf Of Ask Extension
Sent: Friday, November 22, 2024 1:18 PM
To: Mike Kiska
Subject: Re: Bee ID and solution (#0160008)
Hello Mike,
Your two images are unrelated. I refer you to Cassey's comments for everything about the yellow jackets. The nest is that of an Organ Pipe Mud Dauber wasp (Trypoxylon sp.). While yellow jackets can be a serious problem, the latter wasps are harmless. They do not reside in their nests, they're just for raising their young. So there's a low likelihood of encountering the wasp, and it would only sting if thoroughly harassed. Furthermore, the wasp that made the nest is dead by now. They overwinter as larvae in those mud chambers, if the nest was even completed (it doesn't look done to me).
Let me know if you have further questions.
