Bees Vs.Wasps Vs.Hornets Vs.Yellow Jackets | What Is the Difference?

• Mostly short and fat
• Not aggressive
• Having stubby legs
• Unlike wasps, having thicker hands
• Black and yellow stripes on the body
• Sting at once

Appearance

Like honey bees, bumble bees have an adorable appearance. Bumblebees are more fuzzy buzzing bees then honey bees having flat and furry yellow and black lines on their body. Their body is covered with soft hair.

While Honey bees have black and brown lines on the body, they are smaller than bumble bees. Both bees have two eyes along with a pair of antennae. In front of their mouth, both have sharp mandibles.
Read Also:How to Get Rid of Bumble Bees Easily Best Methods – Bumble Bees Facts

Carpenter bees are lightweight. Their abdomen is black and yellow.

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Where Do Bees Live?

As both bumble bees and honey bees have fuzzing nature. Typically, they likely to live far away from humans. Both make hives to live to have a single queen bee. Bumblebees have smaller colonies than honey bees. Bumblebees usually make underground colonies while honey bees are usually live on trees.

Carpenter bees are attracted to dry bare woods. These bees can’t eat wood but can cause damage to the wooden structure by making holes in it. Unlike other bees, carpenter bees don’t live in the colonies. They make tunnels to stored their eggs and protect pollen larvae from surviving in cold temperature.

Do Bees Sting? 

Bumblebees have powerful, painful sting than honey bees. They can sting you at multiple times. But honey bees are gentle. They are not as threatening as bumble bees. Honey can sting just in once.

Whereas carpenter bees can’t sting you. If they are hovering around you, then these bees are harmless to you.

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Yellow Jackets

Very aggressive insects among all insects. Yellow jackets are similar to wasps. They are mostly found in the United States. They make colonies up to 40,000 yellow jackets.

• They have a deeper yellow color
• Unlike other bees having a long and thin body
• More aggressive than wasps
• Mostly nested on above grounds
• Sting multiple times

Appearance

Yellow jackets have yellow and black stripes on their body. They have six legs, wings and a pair of antennae. Unlike other bees, they don’t make honey.

Where Yellow Jackets Live?

Yellow jackets likely to live where humans live. They make their colonies in dark and cold places, underground nests. They are social insects and active in the day time.

Do Yellow Jackets Sting?

Yellow jackets are dangerous and can sting your multiple times. They can inject infestation in you if they are around you. Their venom can cause allergic.

Wasps

Wasp life is not more than a year. They have almost 4000 kids in the United States. They

are hovering in daylight band return to their nest at dusks. They are active in the mid of summer and early fall. A queen bee remains life in winter, and all the wasps will die off.

• Not much aggressive like yellow jackets
• Stings multiple times
• Larger than honey bees
• Nested on tree limbs

Appearance

Wasp is the only insect that has a flat body having a pair of wings. They are large than honey bees.

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Where Wasps Live?

Wasps make their nests near humans like on the roof and above ground. So, they can readily sting.

Do Wasps Sting?

Wasps are aggressive and can sting you as many times as they like. They have hurtful sting rather than dangerous. Red Wasp – How to Get Rid of Red Wasp.

Hornets

Hornets have two types’ Bald-faced hornet, and European Hornets both belong to Vespidae. Bald-faced hornets are usually found in the United stated and smaller than European hornets. Unlike other insects, European hornets fly in the night.

• They are aggressive
• Live nearer to humans
• Having larger mandibles
• Eat bugs and human foods
• Sting multiple times

Appearance

Bald-faced hornets have white patch while European hornets have yellow patches on their abdomen. Bald-faced hornets are small and little wings while European hornets are large and more prominent wings.

Where Hornets Live?

Bald-faced hornets make their colonies on the top of trees, building, and bushes. A single queen starts living in the middle of the nest and laying eggs in every spring then gradually hornets expand until the nest size become larger than a basketball at the end of the summer. The queen hornet always protected by workers.

European Hornets are like to make a nest in hollow trees. You can also find them in hollow areas of the house roof, in barns and shades. They built a nest on insecure places like tree limbs. By building a nest, they use wood fibers shell around their nest to protect themselves. As winter starts all hornets die off except the queen hornet. It finds shelter place in empty logs to spend the winters.

Do Hornets Sting?

Bald-faced hornets have a smooth string, so they sting anyone or anything. They can sting again and again that cause allergic reactions. As they are aggressive, their sting injects venom to host that will hurt you more and also itching you.

Similarly, European hornets work as bald-faced hornets. But they also damage trees and shrubs. As they use fiber shell to make nests so they can cause more damage than bald-faced hornets.

Both bald-faced hornets and European hornets have a smooth string that can cause sting over and over. Their sting can hurt, itch you, and cause allergic reactions.

What Wasps, Hornets, bees, and Yellow Jackets eat?

Yellow jackets like to eat other insects, especially spiders. They also eat sweets and meats. Moreover, they don’t store food and don’t make honey. They can also destroy crops. Hornets like to eat grasshoppers, flies’ bees, yellow jackets. They can also eat trees sap and fruits as they hunt in groups. So, they can damage a large quantity. Bald-faced hornets like to eat nectar and fruits.

These Insects Are Bad as You Think?

As I told earlier these all insects sting once or most of them in multiple times. So, their sting is painful, which can cause allergic reactions, itching, selling, etc. But they are not as dangerous as you think. You can get some benefits from them. Like honey bees make honey, which is very useful and healthy to humans.

Wasps and yellow jackets are likely eating grasshoppers, spiders, and other insects. So, they are acting as a natural cleaner to get rid of other insects.

Bee is a source of beeswax. So, a human can get benefits from them.

Preventing Sting If You Get Stung

If you get stung by bees then don’t scratch on it; otherwise, you will get more venom. You should scrap the skin from a fingernail or butter knife. And if you get stung from hornets, wasps and yellow jackets then it will cause itching, allergic and swelling.   There are some simple sting remedies. You should try if you get stung:

• baking soda and water
• A meat tenderizer
• Onion
• Toothpaste
• Preparation H
• Damp tea bags
• A common weed

If you get stung by these insects then here, I am going to tell you some tips to prevent them. You should follow then to protect yourself and your homes, yards, plants, etc. Let me tell you some steps for preventing stings. These instructions are pretty simple to follow:

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• You should don’t place sweet and meats in open place
• If any insects land on you, you should not beat them, gently brush them off and walk away
• You should not use great scents such as floral perfumes, lotions, and hair product which cause to attract them.
• Yellow jackets are very aggressive insects and mostly attracted to sugary things like cans so pure the water or drinks into the water rather than cans
• You should always cover cans and pet food.
• Keep clean your houses, yards, and plants regularly.
• If you can’t control them, then call a pest management professional to get rid of them.

Conclusion

Yellow jackets, wasps, bees, and hornets are tiny social creatures having almost the same physical structure, but they all are an act differently. Bees are gently and normally far away from humans, while hornets and wasps are usually like to live near humans.

Bees sting you once while other insects sting again and again. Overall, they are not as bad as human consider them. But if they sting you again and again, then it can cause allergic reactions. In this case, you can try some home remedies that are listed above. You can try any one of them if you get stung.