digger wasps a threat?

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dickndoris

House Bee
Joined
Feb 10, 2011
Messages
282
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Location
York
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
35
Was just sorting out a colony that has lost its virgin queen, I guess on her mating flight as the house martins have been out in force, when I noticed but 6' away a scraped out hole like the start of a rabbit hole and coming and going out of it were wasps. Lots of wasps with the nest part exposed. Badger maybe? Fox? We have no rabbits as the cats have had em and the river stops them coming over. My question is might they be a big threat to the 6 colonies that are all very close? So far this year there have been :sorry:no wasps attacking at all unlike the previous years. All the colonies are 14x12 brood and half or 1/4 with 2-3 supers on each and very busy. Struggling to keep up on honey extraction and get the supers back on so maybe they are defending well due to the shear numbers and the wasps are wise not to even try;-)
Will take a PIC tomorrow before work if needed.
Rich
 
My question is might they be a big threat to the 6 colonies that are all very close?

All the colonies are 14x12 brood and half or 1/4 with 2-3 supers on each and very busy.

Yes they MAY be a threat but the best defence is a strong colony.... QED
 
Was just sorting out a colony that has lost its virgin queen, I guess on her mating flight as the house martins have been out in force, when I noticed but 6' away a scraped out hole like the start of a rabbit hole and coming and going out of it were wasps. Lots of wasps with the nest part exposed. Badger maybe? Fox? We have no rabbits as the cats have had em and the river stops them coming over. My question is might they be a big threat to the 6 colonies that are all very close? So far this year there have been :sorry:no wasps attacking at all unlike the previous years. All the colonies are 14x12 brood and half or 1/4 with 2-3 supers on each and very busy. Struggling to keep up on honey extraction and get the supers back on so maybe they are defending well due to the shear numbers and the wasps are wise not to even try;-)
Will take a PIC tomorrow before work if needed.
Rich

A pic would be helpful.

Germanica will excavate a burrow and this can sometimes look as though an animal has had a go at the nest. If it were a badger then it's likely the nest would have been exposed/torn apart with comb and debris in with the discarded soil. If there's no evidence of this and instead you have a healthy colony then be careful on approach as 6ft is no distance at all and if the wasps sense you approach (through vibration of the substrate) or for some reason you have distress pheromone on your person, e.g. squashed wasp on bee suit which they detect because of wind direction, then you might find it a little challenging. I would certainly caution against approach without a bee suit.

If it turns out to be a competent nest which you feel is too much of a risk and needs treating then I suggest you have it treated early in the morning before the foragers go out forgaing (i.e. crack of dawn) otherwise there is a risk that you will create nuisance wasps that may then turn their attention on your hives.

Regards,

Karol
 
If my considerable experience with these species is anything to go by....

NO they will not be a threat to your bee colonies

I have them in the ground all over my apiaries right up to a metre from hives, they are about a big a problem as a few ants.

Chris
 
Thanks for the replies people.
I was looking in from about a foot away and they seemed pretty chilled out. Didn't watch for too long as I had to de robe to get to work in time or was it Sunday dinner then work:-( Will take a PIC in the morning to post. It was for sure something digging as there is a clump of soil that a wasp wouldn't move. I know where it is so if there are attacks from that colony then out comes the spade and a plastic bag with a trip to a distant location so they can pester something else. Hate needlessly killing anything. My bees are still up for eviction so maybe the wasps might need looking after:)
 
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