What Does a Yellow Jacket Nest Look Like? Photo Guide for Each NH Type
TL;DR
A yellow jacket nest in southern New Hampshire looks like one of three things: a quarter-sized hole in turf or a stone-wall base (eastern yellowjacket), a hidden colony behind cedar shingles or clapboards with brown drywall stains (invasive German yellowjacket), or a grey football hung from an eave (aerial yellowjacket or bald-faced hornet). Paper wasp nests are open umbrella combs — not yellowjackets. Anchor Pest Services confirms species from a photo before any treatment.
NH nest types
3
ground, wall void, and aerial — each different species
V. germanica wall colony
4,000+ workers
peak mid-Aug to mid-Sep per UC Riverside CISR
Bald-faced hornet nest
up to 58 cm long
largest Dolichovespula nest; taxonomically a yellowjacket per Cornell CALS
Aerial YJ colony peak
~400 workers
D. arenaria — far smaller than ground colonies
Three Nests, Three Species — Why Correct ID Matters in NH
Southern New Hampshire homeowners encounter three distinct yellow jacket nest forms, and the visual cues differ so sharply that many people never connect all three to the same family of wasps. The ground nest of the eastern yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons) is invisible — just a quarter-sized hole at a lawn edge or stone-wall base with fast, low, directional traffic. The wall-void nest of the German yellowjacket (Vespula germanica, invasive in the Northeast since the 1970s) has no visible exterior nest at all — only wasps disappearing into a cedar-shingle seam or soffit gap, and a faint brown stain on your drywall. The aerial nest of the aerial yellowjacket (Dolichovespula arenaria) or bald-faced hornet (D. maculata) is the one everyone pictures — the grey paper football hanging under the eave.
Getting the identification right is not just an intellectual exercise. Each nest type calls for a different professional product and approach: dry-soil entries use Drione (EPA 432-992); damp-soil and weep holes use Delta Dust (EPA 432-772); wall voids use Drione or Tempo 1% Dust (EPA 432-1373) injected through the existing exterior entry. Anchor Pest Services (NH license #782664, F1, NEPMA) confirms the species from a photo before scheduling any treatment — the wrong product or wrong approach will fail, and a wall-void sealing attempt will drive wasps through your drywall into living space.
What NH's Landscape Creates — Stone Walls, Cedar Shingles and Eave Footballs
Two NH-specific building and landscape features define where nests appear in the Anchor service area. First: the dry-stack stone wall. Generations of NH farmers cleared fields and stacked granite along property lines and orchard rows in Bedford, Derry, Goffstown, Amherst, Litchfield and Hooksett. The voids between stones are ideal for eastern yellowjacket (V. maculifrons) ground nests — the wall's footing sits in undisturbed soil, provides natural void space, and is nearly invisible until a riding mower passes over the entry hole. UNH Extension Infoline identifies V. maculifrons as the dominant species in these lawn and stone-wall scenarios. Second: the cedar-shingle and clapboard housing stock of older Manchester, Concord and Portsmouth neighborhoods. Homes built between roughly 1900 and 1960 often have cedar shingles, board-on-board, or clapboard siding that opens and closes seasonally with temperature swings — 90°F July heat can gap a clapboard seam wide enough for V. germanica workers to enter. UC Riverside CISR documents this species as established in the Northeast since the 1970s and as the one most likely to occupy wall voids. Concord and Manchester's older districts are the highest-risk zones. First frost in Manchester averages approximately October 19 at 50% probability per NOAA; V. germanica is the only NH yellowjacket that can overwinter in a heated attic and re-emerge the following March.
Species present in NH
- Eastern yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons)
- German yellowjacket (Vespula germanica)
- Aerial yellowjacket (Dolichovespula arenaria)
- Bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata)
Peak activity
mid-August through mid-September
Service area
First-frost anchor: Manchester first hard frost ~Oct 19 (50%) / Oct 29 (80%) per NOAA 1991–2020 normals
Per UNH Extension Infoline, the German yellowjacket (V. germanica) is the species most likely occupying wall voids in NH homes — not honeybees. Honeybees produce a continuous warm hum; yellowjackets make a crinkling, scratching sound as workers chew wood pulp for nest material.
How yellowjacket nests grow through the NH season
Yellow jacket nest identification in southern New Hampshire begins with location. Each of the three NH nest types is built by a different species, occupies a different physical space, and presents entirely different visual cues — or no cues at all. Photo-ID from 20 feet is the first step of Anchor's licensed process, and it drives every subsequent product and approach decision. Common visual confusion in the region runs in two directions. Homeowners often assume the buzzing in their wall is a honeybee colony — UNH Extension Infoline consistently names the German yellowjacket as the actual culprit in NH homes. At the other extreme, homeowners who find a grey football hanging under their eave sometimes treat the bald-faced hornet as an entirely separate problem; in fact, Dolichovespula maculata is taxonomically an aerial yellowjacket, not a true Vespa hornet, per Cornell CALS. Correct identification prevents misidentification-driven mistakes — especially the single most dangerous one: sealing a wall-void entry while an active German yellowjacket colony is inside.
Founding
Golf ball
30–60 workers
Mid-May to mid-June (NH)
$200–$450 (industry-survey estimate)
Smallest possible nest footprint; the queen is still building brood cells per Penn State Extension. The ground hole is the size of a dime; aerial nests are smaller than a tennis ball. Easiest to treat at this stage.
Growth
Tennis ball
100–500 workers
Mid-June to early July (NH)
$200–$450 (industry-survey estimate)
First worker brood active. Traffic in and out of the entry hole is now clearly visible mid-morning to mid-afternoon. An aerial nest is recognizable as a paper envelope with a single bottom hole.
Build-out
Softball
500–2,000 workers
July (NH)
$200–$450 accessible (industry-survey estimate)
Colony is now filling the burrow or void. Wall-void nests may be producing audible chewing sounds through the drywall. Ground entries can have two or more active holes.
Peak
Basketball
2,000–5,000 workers
Mid-August to mid-September (NH)
$200–$450 accessible / $400–$800+ wall-void (industry-survey estimate)
Maximum colony size. Workers have shifted to sugar scavenging and are most aggressive. Drywall staining from a wall-void nest may now be visible and expanding. Do not press on suspect drywall.
Super nest (rare — overwintered V. germanica)
Beach ball and beyond
10,000+ workers
Year-round in heated attics
$800+ (industry-survey estimate — custom quote required)
German yellowjacket only. Nest may exceed 2 feet in diameter per UC Riverside CISR. Expert-only extraction with stethoscope and/or FLIR thermal imager to locate the mass before drilling.
Industry-survey cost estimates. Diameters are visual approximations of homeowner-relatable analogies — not field measurements.
Where yellowjackets nest in NH
ground nest
Eastern yellowjacket (Vespula maculifrons) — NH's dominant native ground nester
Where: Abandoned rodent burrows at lawn edges, stone-wall footings, flowerbeds, mulch borders, irrigation valve boxes and under shed slabs
Spot it: Single quarter- to nickel-sized hole with steady directional two-way traffic. No visible paper — the entire nest is underground. Observe from 10–20 feet mid-morning to mid-afternoon. Stone-wall base nests may have the entry partially hidden by granite. Look for a worn path in turf or a small mound of loose soil.
The iconic NH dry-stack stone wall is the most distinctive ground-nest habitat in the Anchor service area. Nests at the wall footing are invisible from a mower and vibration-triggered; most sting incidents in Bedford, Derry, Goffstown and Amherst involve stone-wall base entries discovered mid-mow.
wall nest
German yellowjacket (Vespula germanica) — invasive in the Northeastern U.S. since the 1970s
Where: Soffit-fascia gaps, weep holes, cedar-shingle seams, clapboard cracks, gable vents and vinyl j-channel openings in residential and commercial structures
Spot it: No visible nest. Diagnosis by behavior: wasps disappearing into a seam or vent. Interior cues: brown paper-pulp staining bleeding through drywall; crinkling or scratching sound at night; buzzing when temperatures drop and workers cluster; shiny paint patch where the wall has been thinned from inside. A paint-covered drywall patch may be the last barrier before a breach into living space.
Older Manchester, Concord and Portsmouth housing stock — cedar shingles, clapboard, board-on-board — is most vulnerable. Soffit-fascia gaps in 1900–1960 construction and vinyl j-channel weep openings in newer subdivisions are the primary entries. V. germanica is the only NH yellowjacket species that can overwinter in heated structures.
aerial nest
Aerial yellowjacket (Dolichovespula arenaria); bald-faced hornet (Dolichovespula maculata) — also taxonomically a yellowjacket
Where: Eaves, overhanging branches, dooryard maples, tall shrubs, fence posts and open attic rafters
Spot it: Grey football-shaped paper envelope with a single bottom entrance hole. D. arenaria nests peak at approximately 400 workers. D. maculata (bald-faced hornet) nests are larger — to 58 cm — with ivory-flecked paper and black-and-white wasps. Easy to see once foliage thins in September. Peak traffic into the bottom hole is visible from 20 feet on warm afternoons.
Common on dooryard maples in Concord, Hooksett and Loudon and on eaves at Lakes Region lake houses. Nests are highly visible once leaves drop. Height determines difficulty: nests under 8 feet are moderate; above 8 feet require telescoping pole equipment.
- 1
Photograph the nest or entry from 20 feet and send to Anchor or ask.extension.org for a same-day species ID before touching anything.
- 2
Scout mid-morning to mid-afternoon on a warm day for peak forager traffic — the direction of the bee line leads back to the entry.
- 3
Check interior walls for brown staining or listen at night for crinkling if you suspect a wall-void nest — report this to a licensed technician before any exterior intervention.
Lift siding or soffit panels to look for the nest
Why: Exposes the colony directly and provokes an immediate defensive swarm from workers that may be immediately behind the panel. A wall-void nest behind a thin drywall barrier can breach into living space.
Press on or puncture a suspect drywall patch
Why: Workers thin drywall from the inside until only the paint layer remains per Penn State Extension and UC Riverside CISR documentation; pressing on it can rupture the barrier into a room full of wasps.
Assume the buzzing in your NH wall is honeybees
Why: UNH Extension Infoline identifies the German yellowjacket as the common wall-void wasp in NH, not honeybees. Honeybees produce a continuous warm hum; yellowjackets make a crinkling, scratching noise as they chew wood pulp. Treating for honeybees with a relocation approach on a German yellowjacket colony can result in an indoor breach.
NH activity calendar
Frequently asked
Yellowjackets gone — and they stay gone.
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