Tice Jacques of Belfast, owner and CEO of Coastal Stinging Solutions, removed this white-faced hornets’ nest from a residential yard in Falmouth in August. The homeowner had gotten stung while walking near the nest and called Jacques to take care of the hornets.
As you can see in the video, Jacques vacuumed the hornets out of the nest. What you cannot see is that he used a Shop-Vac that had water in it, killing the hornets. He does not use pesticides.
Jacques said some nests are in safe locations away from human activity and can be left alone, but others need to be removed to prevent families from getting stung and to allow them access to important areas of their yard.
This one was too close to the residence.
The nest was about 2 feet tall on the back side and more than 38 inches around. The intricate pattern on the outside makes a beautiful ornament. Jacques is so fascinated by these and yellow jacket nests that he has collected more than 200 of them and has them on display in his home.
He has been collecting the nests for about 17 years, he said.
Coastal Stinging Solutions started as a hobby of collecting the nests, and it eventually became a side business to remove hornet nests for people.
Jacques said the queen white-faced hornet starts an embryo nest in June, followed by the first generation of workers hatching out in late June or early July. The workers take over duties and build, feed and protect the nest. The second generation of workers hatches in mid-July.
That’s when the nest explodes in physical size and number of hornets in it, Jacques said.
It takes roughly three months for nests to grow to peak size, he said.
At this time of year, new queens and males are mating with other colonies. The new queens make nests next year after hibernating for the winter.
Yellow jackets will nest in anything that has space, he said. The ground is the most common choice, but they like to nest in wall cavities as well.
“I’ve seen them nest in a stack of books, in a couch, tractor, birdhouses. If it’s sheltered enough, queens will build,” Jacques said.
