August and September are when the phone rings about stinging insects in Bayonne. Colonies that have been quietly building since spring are now at maximum size and, as their natural food supply runs down, at their most aggressive. Clearview removes wasp, hornet and yellowjacket nests across the city, and relocates honey bee swarms rather than destroying them.
Call (201) 932-2487. If someone in the household has a known sting allergy, say so when you call.
Short, stocky, brightly banded yellow and black, and fast. They nest in the ground — often in an abandoned rodent burrow, under a stoop, or in the void beneath a patio slab — and in wall voids, soffits and behind siding. A yellowjacket nest is completely hidden; what you see is a steady stream of insects going in and out of a single small hole. They are the ones drawn to soda cans, garbage and outdoor food in late summer, and they sting repeatedly without dying. Almost every serious sting incident we deal with in Bayonne is a yellowjacket.
Large, black and white, and the builders of the gray papery football-shaped nest hanging in a tree, on a soffit, or under a porch roof. Highly defensive of the nest and capable of stinging repeatedly. The nest’s visibility is a small mercy — at least you know where it is.
Longer bodied, thin waisted, with legs that dangle in flight. They build the open, umbrella-shaped comb with visible cells, and in Bayonne that means under porch roofs, inside awning frames, in the corner of a doorframe, under deck railings and inside unused grills and mailboxes. Less aggressive than the other two unless the nest is disturbed directly.
Very large, brown and yellow, and unusually active at night around lights, which alarms people considerably. They nest in hollow trees, wall voids and attics.
Large, resembling bumblebees but with a shiny black abdomen. They bore perfectly round half-inch holes into unpainted or weathered wood — fascia boards, deck railings, porch ceilings, shed trim. Males hover aggressively and cannot sting; females can but rarely do. The damage accumulates over years as galleries are reused and extended, and woodpeckers make it worse by opening the galleries up.
If a large swarm has settled in a mass on a branch, a fence post or the side of a building, that is very likely a honey bee swarm — and it should not be exterminated. Swarming is how honey bee colonies reproduce, the swarm is usually docile in that state, and it can be collected and relocated to a hive.
Honey bees are also a managed agricultural resource in New Jersey, and the state maintains apiary programs and beekeeper registration through the Department of Agriculture. Where a colony has established inside a wall void or chimney the situation is more complicated — comb and honey left behind will ferment, stain through drywall and attract other pests — so the removal has to include opening the cavity and cleaning it out, not just closing the entrance. Call us and describe what you are seeing, and we will tell you whether you have honey bees or yellowjackets before anyone commits to anything.
The method depends entirely on where the nest is. An exposed aerial nest is treated and removed directly. A ground nest is treated at the entrance during low-activity hours. A wall void or soffit colony is treated through the void with a dust — typically at dusk or dawn when the colony is home and inactive — and then, critically, the entrance is left open until all activity ceases. Sealing a wall void while the colony is alive drives hundreds of insects inward through the drywall and into the room. That mistake happens every year and it is entirely avoidable.
Once activity has stopped, we close the entry point and address the surrounding conducive conditions: the gap at the soffit return, the failed mortar joint, the vent screen, the rodent burrow in the yard that a yellowjacket queen will move into next spring.
Timing matters. Early morning and dusk are when the whole colony is present and least active. Mid-afternoon treatment on a hot August day is when people get stung.
We generally encourage homeowners to handle what they reasonably can. Stinging insect nests are the exception, for three practical reasons. Ground and wall-void nests are far larger than the entrance suggests — a mature yellowjacket colony can hold thousands of workers. A can of aerosol from six feet away agitates the colony without reaching most of it. And a ladder is involved in most of these jobs, which means the sting response happens at height.
If anyone in the house has a known allergy to stings, the calculation is not close. Call and let us handle it.
Not while it is active — sealing the entrance drives the colony inward and they come out through the ceiling or the outlet plates. The nest gets treated first, activity has to stop, and only then does the opening get closed.
Stinging insect calls get priority scheduling, particularly where the nest is near a doorway, a walkway, children’s play space, or where someone has a sting allergy. Tell us the location when you call and we will work it in.
The same nest is not reused, but the same location very often is — because whatever made it attractive is still there. That is why we seal the entry and fix the surrounding gap rather than just removing the nest.
We avoid it. A settled swarm can be collected and relocated. A colony established inside a structure is a harder problem and we will walk you through the options, including the cavity cleanout that has to accompany any removal.
Over time, yes. Individual galleries are small, but they are reused and extended year after year, and woodpeckers opening them up does more damage than the bees. Treating the galleries and then painting or sealing the exposed wood is what stops the cycle.
Yes, all of 07002. See our full Bayonne wildlife removal services for everything else we handle.
Call (201) 932-2487. See also pest control in Bayonne, bee control and wasp control.
