Best Bee Brothers Bee Blog — Hornets

Is it a mason bee, carpenter bee or wasp? Our handy guide will help you know friend from foe. Learn what benefits or risks each creature brings and what to do about them if you notice them on your property.

If you’ve ever been the victim of a surprise bee sting (or worse yet, a wasp sting), you know just how unpleasant the experience can be. However, while bees and wasps may at first glance appear similar (read about how to identify different types of wasps and carpenter bees vs. bumble bees), the two species’ ability to sting, their venom and even the pain index of their stings can differ significantly. What to Do for a Wasp Sting Before we can talk about how to approach wasp sting treatment, it’s important to know the  behaviors of two commonly misidentified stinging...

One question we get all the time is how to tell the difference between wasps and hornets. All hornets are wasps, but not all wasps are hornets. In that sense, the term “wasp” refers to a broader category of the Vespidae scientific family. In the US the most common species of social wasps you’re likely to encounter are yellow jackets, hornets and paper wasps. Note: Social wasps are different from solitary wasps (great black wasp). We don’t discuss solitary wasps here. At a glance, paper wasps, hornets and yellow jackets may look and act very similarly. They can all be...