Yellowjacket wasps are a menace to our honey bees. The photo above shows one of these wasps on top of a ranch bee hive.
Yellowjackets will kill honey bees and raid the honey. The wasps are stronger, can sting repeatedly (worker honey bees die after they sting once and drone bees have no stinger at all!), and like to ambush bees in weaker colonies.
To combat yellowjackets as a beekeeper there are several things that can be done. For example, reduce the entrance size on a weaker colony under attack. Or combine two weak hives so they’re strong enough to fend off the wasps.
Fortunately, we haven’t lost a bee colony (knock on wood) to the yellowjackets. However, we do take steps to minimize the risk of that happening. And if it’s a choice between the lives of our honey bees or the yellowjackets, we’ll pick the bees every time.
As for the yellowjacket in the photo, I was wearing my protective gear at the time and had no qualms squashing the wasp with a gloved finger.