Is this a Wasp?

Question

I am including 2 pictures taken today from my doorstep.

The bees had built a small nest in between my wooden deck and its metal fence. The area is about 7-8cm in height.

Though I have done some research and have figured that wasps have slimmer body and skinnier comparing to bees, I would like to hear other opinions.

As you can see, there's one fellow busily working at the hive right now.

http://i38.tinypic.com/fbz32a.gif

http://i34.tinypic.com/16hra54.gif

My questions are

1) Is this a wasp's nest?

2) Is there anyway I can MOVE it without hurting them?

Since they are building their nest right beside my doorstep, there's a great chance that my dog will try to eat them if she sees them, and she might be stinged before she has a chance to bite.

Any suggestions will be greatly appreciated. Thank you.

Answer 1

Here we call them paper wasps.  due to the paper nest they build.  You must remove the nest and the young will die(I don't see any cells occupied yet).  Wait until dark and knock it down with a stick.  By morning the wasps will be building a nest elsewhere and any young in the nest will have been eaten.  Thus turns the circle of life. Wasps are very inactive after dark, so just knock it down and close the door.

Answer 2

It may be a Western Honeybee.   I have those in my yard.

This year there are fewer of them, and they did not show up here until this week.    They are busy feeding on the flowers.

I keep a variety of flowers, in order to have something blooming all the time, and I keep water just so they can live.

I do not advise you to let them live, though, for they are too close to where you also can get bit.

Answer 3

It is a common yellow jacket..here are many pictures of them..and they are aggressive and will sting..get a can of wasp and hornet spray that will spray at 15 feet and kill them

http://images.search.yahoo.com/search/im...

Answer 4

Your visitors are NOT paper wasps, they are painful-stinging hornets.  Take a straw broom and knock down their nest right after it gets dark out (they don't see very well at night). They won't die this way, and will eventually begin setting up housekeeping elsewhere.