Yellowjacket colonies only live for one season. Once the season ends, workers and the old queen die off in late fall and the nest is abandoned, never to be occupied again.
You might wonder if the same yellowjacket nest will be around next year to give you trouble. This answer is no, and that answer is very useful to know because it changes what you need to do to help prevent future wasp problems.
A fertilized queen will overwinter alone in protected spots like leaf litter or woodpiles. In spring, she emerges and finds a cavity where a small paper nest can be built. She does this on her own and then raises the first workers. Through summer, those workers take over construction and foraging while she lays eggs and the colony grows, sometimes numbering in the thousands by August. In fall the colony produces new queens and males, which leave and mate. The entire nest then dies with the first sustained cold leaving new queens to scatter in order to overwinter. The nest is left abandoned.
If you find an abandoned wasp nest in December, it’s not a hazard. It won’t be reoccupied. You can remove it easily.
But if it seems like you’re dealing with the same wasp problem year after year, it’s not in your head. Wasps tend to use the same places to build new nests. They use the same site because the location has already proven itself and queens are overwintered nearby. Plus there are chemical traces left by the prior nest that make the same spot appealing.
Removing an old nest in late fall or winter, then cleaning the surface, reduces the odds that the site will be chosen again. You can then seal the gap or cavity that made it usable in the first place. You can do this without risk once the colony is gone. But if it’s still active wasp season, call a professional since removing a large wasp nest on your own can be very dangerous.
If wasps rebuild in the same spot on your property every year, Mosquito Squad of Lansing can help. Mosquito Squad removes nests and treats the sites wasps return to. This will help you protect your home from next spring's queens.
