Beginners !!! Wasp management

[SteveG]

conical bee escapes in the roof WBC

thanks for mention WBC roof bee escape, checked and found 6 wasps in feeder area above brood box. wire mess added to both. Wasp bane ordered.

 

[colinc]

thanks for mention WBC roof bee escape, checked and found 6 wasps in feeder area above brood box. wire mess added to both. Wasp bane ordered.

This is a good point. My polystyrene insulated flat roofs fit to a point where Bees shouldn't be getting in and out and you would assume wasps too. However when the weather went worse 2 weeks ago I thought I would block the crown board holes. This obviously blocked access to the hive through the roof via the supers.
next inspection showed 2 hives fine but in the third hive there were no bees using this route but it had become a wasp trap. there were 20-30 dead wasps who had got into the roof space and not been able to get out again. how long had these wasps been using this route? It is my most productive hive this year.

I am not sure of the significance of this, but as Karol has suggested perhaps this hive were not defending their supers via the route under the roof. The hive affected were my most placid hive with the oldest queen.


Wasp bane is just "downwind" of this hive.

 

[Codford]

You might want to try placing the Wapbane downwind of the hive?

 

[colinc]

You might want to try placing the Wapbane downwind of the hive?

sorry typo I am a dufus it is downwind edited to suit.

 

[Beefriendly]

Okay - for the benefit of beginners:

The paper that Beefriendly refers to is a review which looks at vespid wasps as a whole. In the UK we are only concerned with vespine - not vespid wasps. Vespid wasps include for example Polistes wasps which behave entirely differently to Vespinae wasps.

And for those paying attention...the review covered the whole lot, vespid, vespine and polistes wasps and concluded that they ALL (including the vespine....) remain the only group of eusocial insects in which communication of distance and direction to food have not been reported."

Okay now that really is my last word...honest

 

[Millet]

sorry typo I am a dufus it is downwind edited to suit.

Come on you are a clever sensible fellow , it makes no difference at all where you place any trap as the wind rarely blows in the same direction, on top of all that i have a Queenless Nuc at a different location with no wasp trap, hence no wasp problem, for me i think the traps cause a problem with the wasp attractants within them, i will certainly not use the thing this next year, i see one or two wasps usually trying to get in but as soon as the waspbane is put in place i get tortured, that may go against the grain from my previous experiences but i need to change tactics in my apiary as the waspbane never helped this year, it caught a load of wasps but attracted a hell of a lot more.

 

[Millet]

And for those paying attention...the review covered the whole lot, vespid, vespine and polistes wasps and concluded that they ALL (including the vespine....) remain the only group of eusocial insects in which communication of distance and direction to food have not been reported."

Okay now that really is my last word...honest

Same here

 

[Erichalfbee]

Well, they still work for me but then haven't got any weak colonies or new best-friends

 

[Millet]

Well, they still work for me but then haven't got any weak colonies or new best-friends

No new best friend is required to kick common sense into gear, you instinctively know what to do.. or you try other methods that you read about or you just go with your gut instinct.

 

[Beefriendly]

or new best-friends

Well I did end with a on last post....hey you want a free Island mated Buckfast,,,200lbs honey per month guaranteed? And you will be my new best friend? Get real.
Seriously thought, please read the papers in the links I gave that are written by people who spend their whole lives studying wasps.
After reading them make your own mind up.

 

[Karol]

This is addressed specifically to beginners reading this thread.

Please please do not let the clouded ramblings of an obsessed individual influence the way you practice your husbandry. It appears Beefriendly will do whatever it takes to discredit me even if it possibly costs you your hives.

Vespine wasps recruit colleagues to food sources period. Beefriendly is plain wrong and his advice is outdated and potentially harmful.

I hate making people look stupid especially when all I want to do is help:

https://tinyurl.com/y9zt7rhk

 

[Beefriendly]

I hate making people look stupid especially when all I want to do is help:

Yawn. Suggest anyone still awake on this thread please
take the trouble to read the published science behind wasp recruitment to food sources, including carbohydrate feeding, rather than this misinformation. Most of it is fascinating. I've provided links to some very readable and easy to understand scientifically peer reviewed papers that all say Vespine wasp do not recruit colleagues to food sources. I can provide more if anyone (still awake) wishes to read them.
But believe what you wish. I prefer facts we can deal with.
A question you might be asking yourselves is why is a managing director of waspbane advocating "please don't kill queen wasps in the spring" and then selling you traps to sort out the consequences later in the year?
Just a thought.

 

[Karol]

Yawn. Suggest anyone still awake on this thread please
take the trouble to read the published science behind wasp recruitment to food sources, including carbohydrate feeding, rather than this misinformation. Most of it is fascinating. I've provided links to some very readable and easy to understand scientifically peer reviewed papers that all say Vespine wasp do not recruit colleagues to food sources. I can provide more if anyone (still awake) wishes to read them.
But believe what you wish. I prefer facts we can deal with.
A question you might be asking yourselves is why is a managing director of waspbane advocating "please don't kill queen wasps in the spring" and then selling you traps to sort out the consequences later in the year?
Just a thought.

So that I understand correctly Beefriendly, are you saying that the references that I provided are not peer reviewed? Or is it that you just missed them and failed to read them?

 

[maddydog]

or new best-friends

Maybe if Karol gave him a waspbane he'd be his new best mate aswell

This is a big thread considering how many final words there have been!

 

[BenLatimer]

I've just squeezed several snakes and put the oil in the wasp trap.. wasps appear confused and now have many freshly squeezed snakes causing problems around the hive.. should I just start squeezing wasps now?

 

[Birdie Wife]

I've just squeezed several snakes and put the oil in the wasp trap.. wasps appear confused and now have many freshly squeezed snakes causing problems around the hive.. should I just start squeezing wasps now?

I just snorted my coffee

Sent from my D6503 using Tapatalk

 

[Anduril]

A question you might be asking yourselves is why is a managing director of waspbane advocating "please don't kill queen wasps in the spring" and then selling you traps to sort out the consequences later in the year?
Just a thought.

Simple answer, I know a fair number of people who are allergic to wasp stings and carry epipens. For their enjoyment of a garden, then waspbane is ideal and safe. Do you think wasps play an important part in our ecosystem? Or would you prefer to wear a hat with corks on it!

 

[bingevader]

Simple answer, I know a fair number of people who are allergic to wasp stings and carry epipens.

You'd have to quantify that for it to be relevant, because either you're very unlucky, or it's statistically unlikely.

Do you think wasps play an important part in our ecosystem?

Yep! Great predators on your garden pests.

 

[Karol]

I've just squeezed several snakes and put the oil in the wasp trap.. wasps appear confused and now have many freshly squeezed snakes causing problems around the hive.. should I just start squeezing wasps now?

Ben, if you ever do stand up let me know. I'd happily book tickets. ::

 

[madasafish]

I do not have any wasp traps. None.

We have lots of wasps , nests in our gardens, our neighbours' gardens and in the nearby woods. It is physically impossible to catch them all or make any noticeable dent in their numbers.

So: I do the following:

Leave the wasps' nests in our garden for the badgers to dig up (they do - every year before August).
Leave NO comb outside the hives.Ever. If I store in empty hives, I block the entrances. (I run Langstroths so none of the 100 year out of date WBC designs which give lots of wasp hiding spaces..)
Don't spill honey near the hives.
And if feeding, don't spill any - I use a small filter funnel to aid clean filling. And usually feed when it's cold or in the evening when fewer flying insects. And carry kitchen towel to blot any drips before they drip ...

Locate all my mini nucs in the veggie garden behind screens of beans or trees or raspberry canes- to dilute the scent of wasps.

Run 1 beespace entrances high and wide for weak nucs.

Don't see many wasps around as a result - the odd one or two yes..But not huge numbers..