Pests We Treat - Volleyball Size Bald-Faced Hornets Nest Removed in Morganville, NJ

Here, in Morganville, NJ, I arrived at a residence to treat a volleyball-sized bald-faced hornets nest. Based on its size, this nest had been active and expanding for quite some time before Cowleys was contacted and dispatched me to take care of this dangerous infestation. Nests that are located around homes, especially close to entranceways, or nearby lawns that are mowed or where children play must be removed. The risk of a hornet attack on someone who inadvertently disturbs the nest, especially a child, are just too great.   

Baldfaced hornets are a type of aerial yellowjacket. They are long black intimidating-looking wasps with ivory markings on their faces (a white or “baldfaced” head) and abdomens. These social wasps that live in a colony (as opposed to solitary wasps). They are highly aggressive and territorial. If they feel that their nest is being threatened, they will sting and perhaps even more painful than a wasp sting, squirt venom into the eyes of a suspected nest intruder. Also, their stingers aren’t barbed, so a single wasp can sting multiple times. Start multiplying hundreds of wasps by multiple stings, and it’s easy to see why a hornet attack can easily turn into a serious medical emergency. 

Baldfaced hornets build a distinctive gray spherical nests. These nests contain layered hexagonal combs with a gray paper cover. The insects collect and chew wood fiber from weathered and rotting wood that they mix with their saliva to make a nest-building paste. The fertilized queen that has overwintered in a protected place such as in a hollow tree, a rock pile, or behind a home’s vinyl siding will start building the nest on her own in the spring. She’ll deposit a few eggs in this small starter nest. The first brood then takes over the heavy lifting — nest building, food collection, feeding the larvae, and protecting the nest allowing the queen to focus on what she does best — producing more workers. The nest will keep growing and growing to accommodate the ever-increasing tier-by-tier combs as the queen pumps out more workers. Without exaggeration, these nests can, over time, grow as big as a basketball that can easily house hundreds of these wasps. 

I will be applying some dust, with aerosol to flush out the hive, and also a non-repellent application that will be spread around the colony. Once the nest is inactive, I’ll remove the hive. This video shows an active baldfaced hornets nest and the removal of the hive. With the hive removed, the property will be safe once again and no one has to be afraid of being attacked by these stinging insects.