If there's a gray, enclosed, football-shaped paper nest hanging from a branch, a shrub, or the underside of your eave, you have bald-faced hornets — the most defensive stinging insect in Central PA. Don't knock it down, don't spray it from below, and don't run the string trimmer under it. We treat during the day in full protective gear — and where the nest can be taken down safely, it leaves with us.
Same-Day Removal — Call or Text 717-379-3248Bald-faced hornets defend a zone of about ten feet around the nest, and they don't need much provocation. Vibration is enough — a mower, a string trimmer, a ladder bumping the branch, a car door. Back off, keep kids and dogs out of that part of the yard, and text a photo to 717-379-3248. Identification is free and usually comes back within the hour. If you can safely note roughly how high it is and what it's hanging from, that's most of what we need to quote it.
Three different insects build three very different nests, and people call all of them hornets. The nest itself tells you more than the insect does.
What you'll see: A closed, gray, papery nest shaped like a football or an upside-down teardrop, hanging from a branch, a dense shrub, a soffit, or a porch ceiling. One small opening near the bottom. Insects are large and boldly black and white — not yellow.
Why it matters: Nests start in spring the size of a golf ball and are often not noticed until August, by which point they can be basketball-sized with several hundred workers. This is the nest that needs professional removal.
What you'll see: A small, open, gray comb of visible hexagonal cells on a short stalk, with no paper envelope around it. Usually under a railing, a porch ceiling, a grill lid, or inside a mailbox. Slender, long-legged wasps that dangle their legs in flight.
Why it matters: Much less defensive and much smaller colonies — usually a couple dozen. They still sting if you reach into one, but they're a far smaller problem, and a nest that isn't next to a doorway can often just be left alone.
What you'll see: Usually no visible nest at all — just steady traffic in and out of a hole in the lawn, a gap in the siding, or a soffit corner. Bright, hard-edged yellow and black.
Why it matters: Different job, different price. If it's a hole in the ground see ground bees; if it's going into your siding see wasps in your wall.
What you'll see: Amber-brown and fuzzy rather than black-and-white. A swarm hanging in the open looks like a solid clump of bees with no paper nest at all.
Why it matters: We're working beekeepers. Honey bees get live removal and relocation wherever the colony can be reached safely. A bare clump of bees on a branch is a swarm — swarm collection is free.
Aerial nests generate more emergency-room stories than anything else we deal with, almost always because someone tried to handle it from the ground first.
If anyone is stung and shows swelling beyond the sting site, trouble breathing, or dizziness — call 911 first. Then call us.
We do these during the day — you're not waiting until after dark for someone to show up. Working in full protective equipment, we puff a low-volume insecticide dust directly into the entrance at the bottom of the nest, which carries through the paper envelope and reaches the colony inside rather than just wetting the outside of it.
If the nest is out in the open and can be taken down safely, we remove it and take it with us. That's the version most people want — the nest goes off your property rather than hanging there for the rest of the season as a reminder. Nests tucked into a soffit return or a dense shrub can't always be removed intact, and in those cases the colony is treated in place. Nests over a walkway, a doorway, or a play area get priority either way.
Cost: aerial hornet nests — the exposed grey ones — run $200–$325, depending on height and access. Multiple nests on one property get bundled. Estimates are free, and a texted photo usually gets you an exact number without anyone coming out.
Worth knowing if you're comparing our prices: an aerial nest is the straightforward one. “Aerial” just means the nest hangs in the open rather than hiding in a cavity — plenty of them sit four feet off the ground in a shrub, and we do a lot of those. Either way it's visible, we can reach it, and it's usually treated and off your property in a single visit. A nest hidden in a soffit or wall void costs more because we can't see what we're dealing with and it takes 7 to 10 days for full control — 14 to 21 in August, while the remaining brood hatches out; a colony that has broken through into the house costs more again.
Not this colony. Bald-faced hornet colonies die off completely with the first hard frosts, and only newly mated queens overwinter — each one starting a fresh nest somewhere else in spring. An old nest is empty. You don't need to pay anyone to remove one in December. Winter weather usually breaks it apart on its own.
What does repeat is the location. A sheltered eave or a dense shrub that produced a nest this year is attractive again next spring. If you've had two in the same spot, ask about a spring preventive treatment — considerably cheaper than an August emergency.
All of the City of Harrisburg (17101–17104, 17109, 17110) — Midtown, Allison Hill, Uptown, Bellevue Park, Italian Lake. Inner suburbs: Penbrook, Paxtang, Steelton, Highspire. Outer suburbs: Colonial Park, Lower Paxton, Susquehanna Township, Linglestown. Plus Hershey, Hummelstown, Mechanicsburg, Camp Hill, Palmyra, Middletown, Carlisle, and Lebanon.
Free identification, usually within the hour. If it's bald-faced hornets somewhere that matters, we'll come out same-day — and where the nest can be taken down safely, it leaves with us. If it's an old empty nest or something that can safely be left alone, we'll tell you that and you won't pay us a dime. Locally owned, PA-licensed pesticide applicator, fully insured.
Call or Text 717-379-3248