Heads up new beekeepers - Robbing

[BILL.HEARD]

Down in this part of Devon the flow has basically finished, I have been to several apiaries today and have put all entrance blocks back in place on large colonies. Small nuclei I have reduced in some cases to one bee way.
Up until last week wasps were not making there presence know, now they are out in force and if we have a long autumn they could be a big problem this year.
One year in an apiary over the winter period I killed around 60 hibernating queen wasps under the hive roofs. This did nothing to the number of wasps around the following autumn. So put your wasp traps out if it makes you feel better, but it won't markedly reduce the number of wasps in your area.

Keep everything spotless in your apiary, pick up wax pieces of comb and keep all wet supers under cover in a bee/wasp-tight area. If you have to start feeding be careful not to spill syrup.

Once robbing starts its not easy to get it to stop especially for the new beekeeper who may find it all rather daunting.

 

[Hachi]

Anyone got a killer recipe? I put traps out every year and score a big fat zero everytime.

 

[Mellifera397]

At scout camps we used to drink most of a 2 litre bottle of coca cola and leave about an inch of coca cola in the bottom then cut off the top and invert. We once put a bottle full of wasps on the fire and watched the ones that hadn't drowned get covered in plastic.

M

 

[Cazza]

Anyone got a killer recipe? I put traps out every year and score a big fat zero everytime.

Personally I think this is a waste of time. If you place them near your hives, you end up attracting them. Better to place them away from the apiary. I have stopped bothering with traps at all and maintain scrupulous hygiene around feeding and rapid inspections with small entrances so they are not attracted to the hives in the first place.

I also now live with nests in the house eaves/garden. I used to be a wasp murderer but not now.
Cazza

 

[Erichalfbee]

We have a couple of nests in the garden.
I have left them alone. Wasps deserve a place as much as our bees.
I too try to be scrupulously clean in the apiary.
Hopefully my colonies are strong and will be able to fend off any attacks

 

[yeogi75]

went to take some bees to our out apiary, found two small nucs wiped out, only empty coomb and body parts left just lots of legs.

 

[Hachi]

Not intending to "exterminate" the entire wasp population just trying to protect my hives. Wasp traps are just one element of my approach as is smaller entrances and clean environments.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

went to take some bees to our out apiary, found two small nucs wiped out, only empty coomb and body parts left just lots of legs.

Grief that's horrid. I am amazed wasps can mounth those sorts of numbers.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Have a look at this thread from last year
There are some very interesting observations about wasp behaviour

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=20569

 

[Hachi]

Have a look at this thread from last year
There are some very interesting observations about wasp behaviour

http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=20569

Ok I'll succumb. Where do I get some of these high efficiency wasp traps he mentions? I want them as part of my IWM plan.

 

[madasafish]

Get some badgers. They will exterminate all nests in or under the ground...

(they will also eat your strawberries, destroy your bird feeders and smash your raspberry canes if in their way...)

 

[Putnamsmif]

What do you advise, a full colony, or just a start-up sett to begin with?

 

[Putnamsmif]

No but seriously, I noticed a few wasps round my two hives today. One is a nuc I only installed last week. The other is fairly strong - I say that but I don't really know because I have nothing to compare it with. They are on 11 frames with 4 full of honey capped and uncapped. The other frames are a mixture of BIAS including eggs, with stores round the edges. They haven't moved up into the super I put on as yet, but there's obviously still a good varied flow 'cos I watched them coming in with at least three different coloured pollens. But I digress, what I was going to ask is probably a bit of a dumb question but how do you actually reduce the entrance size? Do you just cut an insert bit of wood, or tape it up, or does it not really matter?

 

[Cazza]

But I digress, what I was going to ask is probably a bit of a dumb question but how do you actually reduce the entrance size? Do you just cut an insert bit of wood, or tape it up, or does it not really matter?

Doesn't really matter as long as it does the job. I use different lengths of wood rather than a bought entrance reducer and just fit the size I want. Sometimes I add foam if I really want to go down to one bee size. Whatever you have to hand.
Cazza

 

[Putnamsmif]

Thanks

 

[sandysman]

Fifty fifty lager and coke or plumb jam in water.
Andy

 

[SixFooter]

Bag of sugar in kettle full of hot water. Leave to cool in a bucket. Add a pot of cheap jam, Splurge of white wine vinegar. Leave outside for a few days so it starts to ferment.
Pour into jars and put lids with holes in on them

imho, traps do not attract wasps to hives, its the smell of honey and the smell of wax! I have traps all over the garden and the ones by the hives always have many more wasps in them than those in random places. I have several stacks of unused equipment and traps near these have more bees in than traps some distance away, but fewer than those by the hives. I can smell honey about 30 yds away from the hives, so surely the wasps can.

 

[BILL.HEARD]

No but seriously, I noticed a few wasps round my two hives today. One is a nuc I only installed last week. The other is fairly strong - I say that but I don't really know because I have nothing to compare it with. They are on 11 frames with 4 full of honey capped and uncapped. The other frames are a mixture of BIAS including eggs, with stores round the edges. They haven't moved up into the super I put on as yet, but there's obviously still a good varied flow 'cos I watched them coming in with at least three different coloured pollens. But I digress, what I was going to ask is probably a bit of a dumb question but how do you actually reduce the entrance size? Do you just cut an insert bit of wood, or tape it up, or does it not really matter?

For reducing entrances I use cut-off's of perforated zinc kept in place by a couple of drawing pins.