# When do yellow jacket queens come out of hibernation?



## warrior (Nov 21, 2005)

First warm days of spring. Like bees it's temperature dependant on when they fly. In 8b it will be within the next month so go ahead and set them out.


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## Norcalkyle (Apr 23, 2015)

I have been trapping queens for the last few years. My traps go out March 1st. You need to blanket an area with traps, as you are hoping to catch a couple of queens at most.

To save money, take a plastic bottle with the cap off, cut the top off at about the point where it is largest, flip it over so it creates a funnel type look, staple the edges and hang in a tree with a mixture of water, apple cider vinegar, sugar and a banana peel. It won't catch as many as the pheromone traps, but you can make about a million of them for pennies and they do work.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

If it helps, I never see any for a couple weeks after i see the Bumble queens out and about.


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## kramerbryan (Oct 30, 2013)

Kuro
March is usually when they start to show, I saw one this week but she was slow moving. I think she came from my woodpile.


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## lharder (Mar 21, 2015)

She has to look after the first batch of brood so the window for trapping is quite large.


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## Kuro (Jun 18, 2015)

Thank you all,
Today I found the first yellow jacket crawling around my greenhouse. It was no bigger than the regular ones but I assume it was a queen? Next week the temperature will hit 60F. I’ll make a bunch of vinegar-banana traps (thanks, Norcalkyle) and set them up along with the pheromone trap.


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## BeeBop (Apr 23, 2015)

The time is NOW here in Sonoma county.

I've already killed 2 queens. One about a week ago and one 2 days ago.


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