On Saturday, Jeff and the kids were working nearby to this birdhouse that they had put up in a tree. After many minutes of clearing brush and stacking up logs, Jeff got stung by something. He saw and heard the activity of winged insects coming in and out of the birdhouse, so he and the kids moved back about 10 feet. The birdhouse was 7 feet up in the air. But whatever had stung him wasn’t through with him because soon another agressive insect flew into him and retreated just as fast. Jeff was thinking they were hornets because of their level of aggression. Plus they moved so fast that he didn’t see any yellow on them, only black.
On Sunday night, after dark, he and I went out to spray the nest down. I want to say that we are normally not in favor of poison. We poisoned the mouse/mice that were under our house and we won’t do that again; we’ll use a bait and trap next time. But poison seems to be necessary in the case of a yellow-jacket nest. We buy the foaming kind of spray poison.
Jeff was covered from head to toe to protect himself. I stayed back behind him with the flashlight, so I could hold it while he aimed at the hole in the birdhouse. But he took the light from me and did the whole thing himself. I joked with him that he only pretended he was going to give me that job so I would come outside with him, because otherwise I would have stayed inside.
He sprayed the nest without incident. There was no activity in it when he went up to it. They had all gone to bed for the night. There was definitely no activity in it when he was done spraying.
When he got home from work the following day (yesterday), he and the kids went out to get the birdhouse out of the tree and bring it up into the barn.
They opened it up. Some of the grubs fell out of their cells from the poisoning, but they weren’t all dead — many were still wriggling. This is the carnage, as we call it. Most of the matured yellow-jackets were dead. The kids right away found the queen, who was larger than the workers.
Here is the nest, or part of it. Slightly behind it, you can see another layer of cells.
I normally wouldn’t get into examining this, but the kids and Jeff sure like to dig in. I was there mostly for documentation, and a tiny bit for curiosity. 
In this close-up of the cells, the yellow-jackets are revealed in their growing stages of development, from the tiny larva, to the largest larva, to the very young yellow-jackets that are underneath the bright white hardened covering. (All of this is very technical, I know.) Jeff used his knife to pull some of the young yellow-jackets out from the cells.
Here’s an egg he pulled out. Very tiny compared to his thumb.
He pulled different size grubs and young yellow-jackets out of the cells and arranged them by size. At the very end, he arranged the full-size (or perhaps not fully mature; we aren’t sure) workers and the queen. The queen had already been cut in half, which is why she looks a little cock-eyed.
Here’s what I have to say about it. Thank the Lord — they’re gone. But also thank Him for teachable experiences!
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Wow!! That is totally amazing!! I guess you sure did Science THAT day!! Love Karen t.
I applaud your eagerness for the teachable moment even when bugs are concerned!
Thanks for stopping by the blog and leaving all those comments. We are all doing much better since our sad loss last week.
That is so cool about the yellow jackets! I’ve never heard about that happening in a birdhouse. The pictures were really neat! It is neat that this happened, but not that Jeff got stung. From, Brittany Miller
Hi, Brittany. It was pretty neat! I’m so glad you didn’t get stung when you were here. We think God protected all of you kids when you were playing by there.
Way cool and nasty at the same time.
So, all the foam disappears by the next day? We have some wasps growing on our porch. I’d like to do what you did. 
Yes, all gone by the next day. Be sure to take pics! Love, Wardeh
That is so cool!
Mrs.H
That was very interesting, thanks for posting it. My whole crew had their turn at the computer looking at the pictures
Death to all winged stinging insects!!!
I am glad your family is enjoying the science, but I would be doing the happy dance all over the nest!
Hi, I found your blog through Applie’s Place. Very cool post!
Great specimen & documentation!
We’ve had our battles with yellow jackets around here. They post sentries to defend their territories and have no qualm about chasing one away.
I got the jibblies looking at the pictures, but it’s wonderful that you learned so much about them! I think I would have just scooped them into the trash, and then thought later how I should have examined them.
That is pretty neat! I especially like the shot of the larva in each “comb” or room. Wow.
I am enjoying your blog.
I too came here via http://appliejuice.wordpress.com/2007/06/27/yellow-jackets/ and I must say that is very interesting what you have done here. Glad that you were able to reclaim the birdhouse for it’s intended residents. I let my husband deal with such invaders – he’s very aggressive as we don’t want our kids, or others, to be stung.
Thanks for the lesson.
Wardeh, What is the name of the stuff you used? I was telling William about this and we can’t figure out what the poison is. Thanks.
Oh, dear, I hope I can help. It was from True Value and was with all the other winged insect sprays, only it is the foaming kind. Any hardware store should have it. Ours was the True Value brand (I am pretty sure) and it was in a green and yellow can. Love, Wardeh
My 6 year old wants to tell you, “That’s neat. I never even knew a yellow-jacket existed!” Thank you for sharing the pitures with us.
Geneva, please tell your little one that I am glad s/he enjoyed the pictures and that I hope s/he will never have to run into one! Love, Wardeh
I find it interesting that you call them ‘yellow-jackets’..we call them common ole WASPS here!
Wasps and yellow-jackets are different, Yvonne. I would have to ask Jeff exactly how they differ, but I think the wasp is black and has a longer, bigger body. They’re all hard to live with though. If we could live with them without worrying about getting stung, we’d do it. Love, Wardeh