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Dear Jill:
Those black-and-yellow striped scavengers are a sure sign of summer (and a sure sign for you to
make a run for it--their stings hurt)! But they prefer hanging around your picnic table towards the
end of summer because it's their time off. Earlier in the season they were still busy working while
you were busy relaxing on vacation. And to learn why they were so busy, it helps to know a little
more about wasp royalty--the queen herself.
Yellow jackets don't become active until late spring, when the queens emerge from the
protected crevices where they've spent the winter. Then they start building their papery nests
right away. The queen lays an egg in each cell, or small chamber, that she builds inside the nest.
After a few weeks, these eggs hatch and develop into worker wasps that will make more paper and
build more cells through early summer. The more eggs the queen lays, the more workers there will be
to enlarge the nest and take care of young wasps hatching from her eggs.
By late summer, however, the yellow jackets' society begins to shut down. The queen stops
laying eggs, leaving the workers with nothing to do. The workers soon spend less time at the hive
and more time scavenging for food on their own. And that's why by Labor Day swarms of yellow
jackets end up at places like your picnic, where they'll find the fruits and sweet liquids they
crave right on your table or in nearby trash cans. But if you keep your soda cans, juices and fresh
fruit covered, then guests--not pests--will get to enjoy their dining experience.
Signed,
Wendell
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