Bees kill wasps

[Monbees]

I have noticed my bees doing quite a good job of removing wasps which manage to get into the hive (fortunately, unlike Poot, wasps not a big problem here ... yet).
I am wondering how the bees do it. Do they gang up on a wasp and just worry it to death before bundling it out of the hive? Or is there one kamikaze bee who stings it then the others do the bundling? The wasps do appear, usually to be dead before being ejected.

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

I think they duff them up as a collective.
I’ve read that when wasps get through the entrance they skirt around the sides of the hive to remain as hidden as they can. A tunnel entrance that causes them to exit towards the hive centre / brood cluster area, leads to more certain duffing up.

 

[enrico]

Unless it is a myth bees don't die when they sting wasps, the barb's don't go in! Anyone know anything different?

 

[Monbees]

Unless it is a myth bees don't die when they sting wasps, the barb's don't go in! Anyone know anything different?

I had read that too. Bees evolved to be able to sting other exoskeletal insects without losing their barb. Humans, being late to the evolutionary scene, having soft skin, means that the barb goes deep and cannot be retracted by the bee. Must have been something that happened when wasps and bees diverged back in the mists of time. A pity it didn't happen with wasps too.

 

[Monbees]

I think they duff them up as a collective.
I’ve read that when wasps get through the entrance they skirt around the sides of the hive to remain as hidden as they can. A tunnel entrance that causes them to exit towards the hive centre / brood cluster area, leads to more certain duffing up.

Forgive me Poot, but how do they "duff up" wasps to the point of death? (Love the term by the way!)

 

[drdrday]

Don't know if it's exactly the same with wasps, but bees kill hornets by piling on and using their flight muscles to generate heat. The heat from all of those bees kills the hornet.
It's mentioned in this article which also has some great photos.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/...neybees-intimate-lives-inside-a-tree-feature/

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

Forgive me Poot, but how do they "duff up" wasps to the point of death? (Love the term by the way!)

To duff up....
This year I’ve seen “bundles” fall out of the entrance - three or four bees with a wasp inside the bundle. They writhe around a bit and the bees peel off one by one, generally leaving one bee to ensure the stung wasp is finished off.
I don’t know if the wasp has been stung before the bundle falls out of the entrance, my guess is it has, in a bigger bundle inside the hive. I’ve seen this quite a lot this year, until I got my tunnel entrances fitted, not so much since.

 

[Murox]

Don't know if it's exactly the same with wasps, but bees kill hornets by piling on and using their flight muscles to generate heat. The heat from all of those bees kills the hornet.
It's mentioned in this article which also has some great photos.
https://www.nationalgeographic.com/...neybees-intimate-lives-inside-a-tree-feature/

Excellent short article wonderful images. Thank you for sharing that.

 

[Arfermo]

Yesterday I saw a few of my bees wandering around on the ground and being harassed by wasps and turning the tables and killing their tormentors that I was then able to tread on to finish the job. Imagine the bees were on their last legs but were willing to make one last effort to be really useful for the benefit of their mates. Ain't they just amazing?

 

[ldwgs]

I have noticed my bees doing quite a good job of removing wasps which manage to get into the hive (fortunately, unlike Poot, wasps not a big problem here ... yet).
I am wondering how the bees do it. Do they gang up on a wasp and just worry it to death before bundling it out of the hive? Or is there one kamikaze bee who stings it then the others do the bundling? The wasps do appear, usually to be dead before being ejected.

Have watched bees ball up and 'cook' wasp, wings and 'hair burnt off

 

[Beegarden]

Yesterday I saw a few of my bees wandering around on the ground and being harassed by wasps and turning the tables and killing their tormentors that I was then able to tread on to finish the job. Imagine the bees were on their last legs but were willing to make one last effort to be really useful for the benefit of their mates. Ain't they just amazing?

I wondered if some of the girls crawling out the front were 'bait.' When a wasp tries to take one of them, she leaps into action and generally wins. Fortunately wasps investigate dead siblings, which is when I intercede with my battery racquet, which is quicker than my boot!

 

[Dolomede]

Hive really plagued with wasps this year, but I noticed that they were frequently being ejected 5 seconds after entry, sometimes alone but others in the midst of a mass brawl with several bees. Some wasps were then dying on the entrance step which proved beneficial, for other wasps would arrive, walk past, notice their comrade in distress / dead and in true brotherly fashion start to chew bits off them. This often ended in a ball of bad-tempered wasps fighting over the remains - which was fine by me as it distracted them from why they were there in the first place!

 

[user 6228]

bees have venom glands on their mandibles so their bite is harsh on the wasp

 

[beekeepershens]

saw 2 or 3 bees attacking a wasp inside the hive the other day ... it looked like 3 little schoolboys attacking one skinnier one ..... all rolling around and trying to do something effective! I think the wasp escaped .... did nt see it leave the hive either but hopefully it either got properly duffed up and does nt want to repeat the experience, or sufficiently injured not to be able to return to its own nest

 

[gmonag]

bees have venom glands on their mandibles so their bite is harsh on the wasp

Never heard that before. What is the gland called?

 

[gmonag]

OK, I just did some research and found that the mandibular glands secrete, amongst many other chemicals, 2-heptanone. This smells like bananas and was previously thought to be an alarm pheromone. However it is now believed to be an anaesthetic, which will subdue small invertebrate pests when bitten.

http://www.understandingbeeanatomy.com/honeybee-salivary-glands/
Wikipedia:
2-Heptanone has also been found to be excreted by honey bees when they bite small pests within the colony such as wax moth larvae and Varroa mites. Though it was historically believed to be an alarm pheromone, 2-heptanone has been shown to act as an anaesthetic on the pests, enabling the honey bee to stun the pest and eject it from the hive.

I live and learn!