What is the difference between wasps, hornets and bees? Can I safely chase them away with my hose?
There are many kinds of wasps and bees. Some species are solitary insects and others like honeybees, bumblebees and yellow jackets are social insects which live in colonies. Honeybee colonies can survive for years, but bumblebee and yellow jacket colonies usually die out in late fall and are reestablished the next year by fertile females. Honeybees and yellow jackets defend their nests and will sting intruders. Honeybees have a barbed sting which remains in the skin. Each bee can only sting once and dies. Yellow jackets have a smooth sting which does not stay in the sting. Each wasp can sting multiple times and can also bite. Some yellow jackets make nests in cavities in the ground and other species make nests in walls or buildings. Yellow jackets that build aerial nests are commonly called hornets. Yellow jackets look somewhat like honeybees. Their bodies are black with jagged bands of bright yellow (or white in the case of hornets) on the abdomen and have very short, narrow waists. Y
