Yellow Jacket & Hornet

Yellow Jacket & Hornet Removal in Austin, TX

Safe removal of aggressive yellow jacket and hornet nests — ground, eaves, and trees — with same-day help and a six-month guarantee.

Why it happens

Why these two are the ones to worry about

If you need yellow jacket removal or a hornet nest gone, that's some of the most serious work we do at Keith's Bee Removal here in Austin, TX. We're locally owned, we've been at it since 2000, and these two are a different animal from a lazy paper wasp. Yellow jackets and hornets defend their colonies in numbers, they sting again and again, and they don't give much warning. So this is one job you really don't want to try alone. Same-day when we can, and backed for six months.

Here's the thing that makes yellow jackets and hornets different. A single colony can run into the hundreds or thousands, and they'll swarm to defend it the moment they feel a threat. Our long Central Texas summers and mild winters let them stay active far longer than in most regions. Yellow jackets often nest low or underground, so you can mow right over one without seeing it coming. Hornets build up high. Either way, folks stumble into these nests every year around here, and the stings add up fast.

Yellow Jacket & Hornet

What you should know

Knowing what’s living in your yard

Telling these apart helps us come ready. Yellow jackets are small, bright yellow and black, and quick, and they favor hidden spots, wall voids, soffits, crawl spaces, near the foundation, along fence lines, and down in drainage areas and garden beds. That hidden nesting is why yellow jacket nest removal takes some hunting before any treatment. Bald-faced hornets are the big black-and-white ones that build those gray, football-shaped paper nests hanging from a tree limb or eave. If you've spotted one of those, bald faced hornet removal is a job to leave alone until we arrive.

How we take down an aggressive colony

Good hornet nest removal is careful, deliberate work. We start with an inspection to locate every nest, visible and hidden, then read the activity, size, and access points before we touch anything. We suit up in full protective gear, approach when the colony's least active, and treat the nest straight at its core so the whole thing goes down together instead of scattering a cloud of angry insects. For yellow jacket extermination in the ground, we find every entrance first, since a hidden second hole is how people get surprised. Rushed hornet removal is how folks end up in the emergency room.

Getting to the nests you can’t see

The hard part with yellow jackets is that the nest is usually hidden. It might be under the porch steps, inside a wall, tucked in a soffit, or down a hole in the yard you'd never notice until you're standing on it. Part of professional yellow jacket removal is tracing the traffic back to the real entrance, sometimes several feet from where you see them flying. A good yellow jacket exterminator reads that flight path before touching anything. Guess wrong and you've only stirred them up, which is exactly what we're there to prevent.

When you can’t wait for help

Some of these calls simply can't sit. A ground nest by the kids' play set, hornets working a doorway, garage, or pool, or somebody in the house who reacts hard to stings, that's when you call for emergency hornet removal and we drop what we can to get out to you. We keep room in the schedule for it, and emergency calls get the same thorough attention as a scheduled visit. When a colony this size is active near people, fast wasp and hornet removal is the difference between a routine job and a real scare.

Homes, businesses, and everything between

We handle these colonies at all kinds of property. Homeowners call us to make a yard, patio, or play area safe again, and businesses trust us to protect customers and staff, from restaurants and offices to warehouses and multi-unit buildings. Wherever the nest is, we treat the surrounding area afterward to discourage the next colony, since prevention is what keeps you from calling again next season. It's the same safety-first approach every time, scaled to the property in front of us.

Where we work

Where we answer these calls

We cover a wide piece of Central Texas — Austin and Northwest Austin, San Antonio and Northwest San Antonio, plus Round Rock, Georgetown, Cedar Park, Leander, Pflugerville, Hutto, Kyle, San Marcos, New Braunfels, Lakeway, Lago Vista, Westlake, Bastrop, Elgin, Selma, Universal City, and out through Travis, Williamson, and Bexar Counties. If you're near any of those and a nest has you worried, give us a call.

Austin (512) 589-9658 San Antonio (830) 484-8986

AustinNorthwest AustinSan AntonioNW San AntonioRound RockGeorgetownCedar ParkLeanderPflugervilleHuttoKyleSan MarcosNew BraunfelsLakewayLago VistaWestlakeBastropElginDel ValleSelmaUniversal CityTravis CountyWilliamson CountyBexar County

Why Keith's Bee Removal

What this work has taught us over the years

After doing this since 2000, you learn to respect these two. You learn that the quiet hole in the lawn can hold a bigger colony than the nest hanging in plain sight, and that a good hornet exterminator plans the exit before making the first move. We're locally owned, A+ accredited with the Better Business Bureau, and we earned that the honest way, one careful job at a time. Dependable yellow jacket removal isn't about bravado. It's showing up prepared, clearing the colony safely, and standing behind the work for six months.

6 Months

Yellow Jacket & Hornet Guarantee

If a treated nest becomes active again within six months, we come back out and make it right.

What to do until we get there

While you wait on us, give the nest a wide berth. Don't try to pour anything down a ground hole or knock a hornet nest loose, since either one turns a bad situation dangerous in seconds. Keep the whole family and your pets well away from the area, and rope it off if you can so nobody wanders through by accident. Note where you see them flying in and out, and if anyone in the house is allergic, tell us on the phone so we treat the call as urgent.

Frequently asked questions

Are yellow jackets and hornets really more dangerous than regular wasps?

Yes. Their colonies are far larger and they swarm to defend them, so a single misstep near the nest can mean dozens of stings instead of one. That's why we never recommend a do-it-yourself approach.

Do you relocate them the way you do honey bees?

No. These aren't pollinators worth relocating, and they nest too aggressively to move safely, so a hornet removal service treats and clears them instead.

Why can’t I just spray the nest myself?

A store can rarely reaches the whole colony, and the ones it misses come out fighting. Proper yellow jacket nest removal treats the core so the entire nest goes down at once.

How do I know if the nest is underground?

Watch where they fly. If you see them disappearing into a hole in the lawn or under a step, it's a ground nest, and it likely runs bigger than it looks from the surface.

How long does the six-month guarantee cover?

Our work on yellow jackets and hornets is backed for six months. If a treated nest becomes active again in that window, we come back out and make it right.