08/26/2026
What’s bugging me this week? 👀
Bald-faced hornets of course!
Hi, it’s Megan again, and bald-faced hornets are one of my FAVORITE things to talk about so that’s what we’re learning about today. Mostly because they’re just so intelligent and interesting. But it’s a late year for them and a lot of people who see a nest assume it’s 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 they’re a type of wasp) and they can SERIOUSLY hold a grudge! Bald-faced hornets can remember faces, so if you aggravate one, they’ll remember you. They’re also going to be rallying all of their little friends for an attack.
Plus, they don’t 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 they’ll all come for you. And if they aren’t releasing a pheromone, they’re 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 won’t fall off and stick into you once they attack, they’ll just continuously keep stinging. They’ve 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 😳 the venom isn’t usually deadly unless you’re allergic but I can tell you that it does NOT feel good and there have been reports of people who aren’t 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/)
💀 There’s a reason these guys look like a skull - and that’s because they are dangerous and aggressive. If you have children or animals, you definitely aren’t going to want their nest on your property.
Their nests are paper since they’re 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 you’d see in a cartoon! But their inhabitants are not quite as pretty.
If you see a nest and want it checked out, we’ve got you covered! You can call/text Kuhn Termite and Pest Management or message us on facebook.
☎️: 717-640-0741
