6 weeks old AS has been overrun with wasps....help please!

[BabyBee]

AS put into new hive mid/end may. 5 frames with 2 so heavy with stores could hardly be lifted!

think mating flight took place early june - no eggs or larvae seen yet.

checked last tuesday and still lots of stores, happy bees but no eggs or larvae to be seen yet (didnt have specs on so may have missed them). added a frame of sealed and unsealed brood from another hive just in case no Q.

sunday (yesterday) couldnt go anywhere near the hive and millions of bees everywhere. buzzing clearly heard up at the house which is quite a distance away.

thought it was neighbours 2 new Q's having their mating flights as nice day so didnt think too much about it - other than couldnt get close and didnt have suit/opportunity to investigate further.

suited up today and went to investigate....

almost no stores left.
overrun with wasps. Some of them happily head first into cells - dont know if eating bees or stores...
No Q seen but obviously she is new so harder to spot (for a newbie anyway).
Feeder long since finished but bees frantically trying to get to the dregs.
Nobody bringing in pollen - presumably too busy trying to defend the hive?

Never come across this before, so i have:
put and entrance block on.
made up 2 wasp traps with 2L juice bottles with tops cut off and reinserted so they are like a funnel. half filled with water - wash up loiquid in one and jam in the other. smeared jam round inside of 'funnel' and placed one on top of the hive and one nearby.

what else should i do?

should i make up a 1:1 syrup as bees clearly hungry but i dont want to encourage the wasps to eat even more!!!

thanks

 

[Steve Dyer]

almost no stores left.
overrun with wasps. Some of them happily head first into cells - dont know if eating bees or stores...
No Q seen but obviously she is new so harder to spot (for a newbie anyway).
Feeder long since finished but bees frantically trying to get to the dregs.
Nobody bringing in pollen - presumably too busy trying to defend the hive?


what else should i do?

thanks

Suggest you shut down the hive entrance to only a bee or two wide and feed them a bit.

You can make an industrial strength wasp trap with a thing called a savarin mould which you will find unused on the dusty shelf in the kitchen.
http://www.culinaryshopper.com/2010/06/what-is-savarin-mold.html
(Steal it while She Who Must Be Obeyed is out) and put a glass cover over it - glass saucepan lid or the glass bit from the middle of an old washing machine door.

Fill it with a few drips of vinegar and spoons of marmalade and a few bits of apple and water.
Put the mould on something that leaves a gap like three of those feet they sell for flower pots. The sun heats it up like a greenhouse and it's much more effective than bottle traps.

 

[Midland Beek]

Put a sugar syrup feed on just as it is getting dark. Not too strong so that it doesn't need diluting with water for the bees to use it. Bump hive to get wasps out and completely block up entrance for a few days.

 

[Flatters]

For an effective wasp trap (for nothing) get one of the small bottles of Coke, cut the top off to form a funnel and invert into the bottle after putting jam and water in the bottom bit. The wasps can get in but can't get out.

 

[BabyBee]

Put a sugar syrup feed on just as it is getting dark. Not too strong so that it doesn't need diluting with water for the bees to use it. Bump hive to get wasps out and completely block up entrance for a few days.

midland beek, what do you mean by "Not too strong so that it doesn't need diluting with water for the bees to use it" please - is this just 1:1 sugar:water mix or something else

oh and thank you so much everyone

 

[TOBY-3652]

Could you not find the nest and powder it with ant killer

 

[chycarne]

we had the same problem with a weaker colony that we wanted to save. did traps and mixed in some other bees but we will be trying the below too!!
had a good tip very recently try curve rolling a piece of small hole course mesh to a 1/2 circle shape as high as the entrance holes, and about 5 time as as long or to the edges of the hive. put on at night. bees in the morning work it out and map it, wasps and robbers find it hard to work out and dont bother- going off in search of easier. als bees ca noccupy the tube and make it harder for any intruder... tube should be about 2 bees in diameter mesh about 5mm size

 

[richardbees]

BabyB

You've got wasps early....and they sound like right b+st+rds , must take after your infamous midges!

I'd go down after dark with a torch and put a feeder on (1 lb to 1 pt) , seal the hive, ensuring ventilation, and move away as far as you can for a few days.

Can't think of anything else that might work as (in my experience) it's too late to close-down the entrance

richard

 

[BabyBee]

BabyB

You've got wasps early....and they sound like right b+st+rds , must take after your infamous midges!

I'd go down after dark with a torch and put a feeder on (1 lb to 1 pt) , seal the hive, ensuring ventilation, and move away as far as you can for a few days.

Can't think of anything else that might work as (in my experience) it's too late to close-down the entrance

richard

thanks richard, and yes the midges are a bit of nightmare just now! just been out on my horse and both him and i were being eaten alive!

will try the above but wondered if, in your experience, i need tocheck the hive for wasps before i close it down?

and can i just stuff it with grass and stuff to close it down?

 

[BabyBee]

oh and do wasps vacate the hive at dark then?
what about if they have decided this is to be their new home?

 

[nonstandard]

For an effective wasp trap (for nothing) get one of the small bottles of Coke, cut the top off to form a funnel and invert into the bottle after putting jam and water in the bottom bit. The wasps can get in but can't get out.

These work well but are not very stable, if they blow over you just drench the hive or surrounding area with wasp bait. I do use the pop bottles but set them in a plant-pot or similar filled with sand or soil.

 

[beebreeder]

Don't put traps on hive roofs, for one you want to attract the wasps away from the hive not to it and for two its a pain having to move each time you inspect as you will have wasps and bees to contend with. From what you say it is probably to late for this colony as they will get to a stage where the survivors bail out and beg entance to a neighbouring hive,

 

[richardbees]

BabyB

"oh and do wasps vacate the hive at dark then?
what about if they have decided this is to be their new home?"

They are only in your hive to rob and steal honey, nectar and possibly grubs and eggs to take back to their nest to feed their brood. Their nesting requirements are totally different to a b/hive.

They will all have gone... and your bees will all be at home...... after dark.

If you don't follow my suggestion, let me know what happens, ok?

Richard

 

[BabyBee]

just back from sneaking down in the dark....

couldnt find my hive closure strip so stuffed the entrance with grass as best i could. hopefully this will at least deter wasps until i find it in the morning, or obrrow one from my neighbour.

i also put on the feeder with a litre of 1:1 syrup.

have left the 2 wasp traps out in the hopes the ba*tar*s all drown in the morning!

will leave the rest to nature..

all i have to do now is find the bleedin wasp nest!!!!


thanks everyone
will keep you posted
BB

 

[BabyBee]

Don't put traps on hive roofs, for one you want to attract the wasps away from the hive not to it and for two its a pain having to move each time you inspect as you will have wasps and bees to contend with. From what you say it is probably to late for this colony as they will get to a stage where the survivors bail out and beg entance to a neighbouring hive,

beebreeder only just saw this and of course it makes perfect sense. I'll get to that in the morning. and suspect you might be right
i last inspected this hive last tuesday evening - 6 days ago & am amazed at how much damage can be done in such a small period of time

 

[kazmcc]

I'm so sorry BB. I can only imagine how upsetting this is. We just had the normal amount of wasp bothering last autumn and I was distraught. Wasps have been showing up recently, although not trying the entrance, they are just snatching the odd few bees that are resting on the ground. I am going to stick the narrower in before it becomes a problem.

 

[BKF Admin]

all i have to do now is find the bleedin wasp nest!!!!

Wasps tend to return to the nest in a straight line as the crow fly's.

Just keep heading their way to locate them.

 

[BKF Admin]

Just found the post from last year I was looking for.
Posted by member Norton:

Here we go again!
For the umpteenth time!
1. Go to your local supermarket.
2. Buy a tube of rat glue.
3. Spread this glue on board about 60cm x 60cm and place bait in middle of board. (Bait should be early season protein and late season carbohydrates: I guess at this time of the year in the UK that strawberry jam would go down well)
4. Sit back and watch the action!!!!!
How many times do we have to write about this?

Best regards
Norton.

 

[kazmcc]

Wasps tend to return to the nest in a straight line as the crow fly's.

Just keep heading their way to locate them.

Didn't someone tell me last year that they will be in the area about the size of a football field away? Anywhere within that area. I may be mistaken though....

 

[MuswellMetro]

only solution for a heavy wasp attack is to move it 3miles having block it overnight and reduce to 2 bee entrance, however i think the are demoralised as no mated queen

6 weeks since laying queen???, the last eggs laid at week 0 will be forage bees 6 weeks old by the new queen lays eggs if laid today emerge week nine,

so week 9 to 10 you will have a laying queen, non flying nurse bees and a handful of 6-7 week old foragers worn out by the wasp attacks about to die, that's even more likley to be robbed

i would cut my losses and sieve the queen out and recombine with another hive