08/26/2026
Whatâs bugging me this week? đ
Bald-faced hornets of course!
Hi, itâs Megan again, and bald-faced hornets are one of my FAVORITE things to talk about so thatâs what weâre learning about today. Mostly because theyâre just so intelligent and interesting. But itâs a late year for them and a lot of people who see a nest assume itâs honeybees - they do look a lot like a honeybee nest from Winnie the Pooh. But they actually eat honeybees!
A bald-faced hornet can eat up to 40 honeybees a minute. These suckers are one of the most aggressive types of yellowjackets (which also means theyâre a type of wasp) and they can SERIOUSLY hold a grudge! Bald-faced hornets can remember faces, so if you aggravate one, theyâll remember you. Theyâre also going to be rallying all of their little friends for an attack.
Plus, they donât have to do much to communicate; as soon as you kill one of them or attack the nest, they release an alarm pheromone - which is basically just a naturally occurring scent - that will alert the whole colony to the threat and theyâll all come for you. And if they arenât releasing a pheromone, theyâre using their wings to create vibrations to alert the hive of danger. Bald-faced hornets are pretty good communicators just like the spotted lanternfly we talked about last week!
The worst part is that bald-faced hornets have smooth stingers, which means that their stinger wonât fall off and stick into you once they attack, theyâll just continuously keep stinging. Theyâve got a lot of time and energy for anything that poses as a threat to them.
Each sting delivers fresh venom - which they will also spit from their mouths into the eyes of their attacker đł the venom isnât usually deadly unless youâre allergic but I can tell you that it does NOT feel good and there have been reports of people who arenât allergic having to visit the ER for toxic envenomation from a multitude of stings and temporary blindness from venom in the eyes. (See case study on wasp envenomation here: https://pmc.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/articles/PMC9615201/)
đ Thereâs a reason these guys look like a skull - and thatâs because they are dangerous and aggressive. If you have children or animals, you definitely arenât going to want their nest on your property.
Their nests are paper since theyâre a type of yellowjacket, which means they chew on soft wood and then use their saliva to build the nest. Their nests are BEAUTIFUL and do look a lot like a picture perfect bees nest that youâd see in a cartoon! But their inhabitants are not quite as pretty.
If you see a nest and want it checked out, weâve got you covered! You can call/text Kuhn Termite and Pest Management or message us on facebook.
âď¸: 717-640-0741