It's official :(

[kazmcc]

Jam cheap "ribena" and one drop of washing up liquid per bottle.

Have all those things. Will mix them up now.....lots of empty 2l squash bottles too. Might get the kids involved as these substances are safe......to humans mwahhhh haaa haaa !!!

 

[Grub]

Jam cheap "ribena" and one drop of washing up liquid per bottle.

Keep them sweet and clean foam party

Grub

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

so what mixture should I put in that won't attract my bees?

Personally use cheapo jam for the rat glue traps, and a combo of whats around in the fruit juice/cider/jam/cat food/splash of vinegar/pulped fruit stakes for the bottle traps. Bees dont seem terribly interested in any of that. Seems to be 101 variations though, and suspect Mr Wasp isn't too picky. Experiment and find out your perfect waspy Come Dine with Me combo!

 

[kazmcc]

lol, I am going to try all your suggestions and have a field day, as they upset me so much yesterday One worry, how will my nice polite colony be behaving today, after sustaining such an attack, I assume, since I left yesterday? Not happy I presume. Don't forget, I am still very new and this is only my 6th time around a hive. We have no intention of opening them, but still, lots of frenzied bees, around a once bee phobic.....not a good mix.

My usual trick is as I enter the enclosure, I stop and tell them I am the one who is going to look after them and tell them to use their manners.....worked so far lol

 

[barratt_sab]

We have been dealing with one colony that is small (acquired relatively late in the season) and suffering from wasp attack and some robbing (they are being fed, as there’s not much forage around us at present).

Jam and water wasp traps worked for us – after a day or so in the sun to get the smell going. We also added a little yeast, to speed things along smell-wise. Ours seem to work better once there are dead wasps inside them, which looks revolting but appears to work.

We have located and eliminated two wasp nests near the hives. I know some don’t like to kill wasps, but they were both in our roof, so I don’t feel too guilty about it.

This hive is now down to an entrance of only one bee space. Leaning a bit of Perspex against the entrance of the hive seemed to help confuse both wasps and robbers, as did putting foliage around the front of the hive.

The bees in this colony are now a little more wary when we go near them, but we have found that a water spray (99p job from Homebase) helps keep things calm for short operations.

 

[freethorpe bees]

Good luck Kaz - let us know how they were!

 

[kazmcc]

I am ready.....probably over kill, but I have 3 bottle traps, 1. water, washing liquid, jam and vinegar, 2 water, washing liquid and going to pop some of the rotten plums in when I get there, 3. Ribena, water, washing liquid, jam and vinegar, then I have 2 sticky mouse traps with jam stuck to the center. This is my arsenal. The bees are getting 1-2cm to do their comings and goings, peice of glass leant up against the hive ( if I can get it there in one piece, if not, then some twigs and stuff.

Should be a good day, the wasps don't know what's about to hit them. Told you I take looking after things in my care very seriously

Oh, and don't forget my big boots clomping down on any that are still long enough for me to trample

 

[Beezy]

Hi Kaz,

Hopefully they should be fine temperament-wise, once the threat of attack is over and they've had a chance to recover. Mine came under attack from another colony of bees last week (it was amazing to watch their mini battles) - they dispatched them after a few hours, and when I examined them the next day they were as docile as ever.

Happy trap-making!

 

[barratt_sab]

Travel carefully - if you hit a bump you'll end up with a big sticky, foaming lump smelling of rotting plums with bits of broken glass sticking out of it!

 

[kazmcc]

Travel carefully - if you hit a bump you'll end up with a big sticky, foaming lump smelling of rotting plums with bits of broken glass sticking out of it!

Lol, can you imagine me turning up like that...the bees would be fine, it's me that would be under wasp attack

 

[biggles]

I know how you feel I've just been down to mine and one hive had as many wasps in it, as bees. They were going in and out as they liked. Closed the entrance down to a bee size (in was only 4 bee size), killed as many as I could. There are two jam jar traps down. Now there's loads at the entrance trying to get in. The bees seem to be huddled in the middle.

Bad day
Pete

 

[oliver90owner]

biggles, new beeks,

Must have posted this half a dozen times and more....previously.

Waste of time. If they are in and have over-run the colony, that is very likely the end. The only possible way to get a colony like that back on an even keel is a lot more bees. And I do mean 'a lot more'!

Regards, RAB

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

How sad, bad day indeed Pete.

 

[the beehive lodge]

GO GET THEM Kaz
beat them to a pulp LOL

 

[Firegazer]

Kaz,
it was mentioned in passing in an earlier post in this thread, but I think you've missed out on an easy fix to reduce the entrance size:

Foam rubber. Get a a couple of pieces that are about 3 or 4 cm square at the end and half the width of your hive entrance; jam them into the entrance gap with the flat end (not the sharp end!) of your hive tool, leaving a 2 or 3 cm gap in the middle. Much easier than bits of wood that don't fit very well and you can always pull them out a bit more if it's a nice day and the bees want to do serious foraging and the entrance is holding them back.

Killing off wasps isn't really going to do very much IMHO, but giving the bees a big advantage (which they'd probably have if they lived in a tree cavity rather than a hive with a great big entrance) will work fine if the bees are strong and correctly defensive. If they aren't strong, you should add bees by combining, if they aren't bothering to fight, they should die off and make room for better bees . . .

FG

 

[biggles]

Just been told it's worth trying a pipe into the hive so made this up

The hive next to it is now under attack but that one is much bigger. Bees everywhere fighting. The bees are using the tube, but I have seen two wasps use it as well but not as many.
Now off to make more traps.

Pete

 

[biggles]

biggles, new beeks,

Must have posted this half a dozen times and more....previously.

Waste of time. If they are in and have over-run the colony, that is very likely the end. The only possible way to get a colony like that back on an even keel is a lot more bees. And I do mean 'a lot more'!

Regards, RAB

I have a house roof to take two hives from Monday. If I collect them and wire the brood to frames and then put them in a BB on top of the others with paper between, that might help. I hope they can last until Monday.

Pete

 

[thedeaddiplomat]

Kaz

The experts have given you nearly all the advice you need about traps etc. But they appear to have overlooked the other essential element in all of this


Which is, of course, a very large pink gin (or whatever takes your fancy) to take your mind off it.

 

[oliver90owner]

I think I would clear the wasps from the hive near dusk, and close the colony completely, put a feeder on top to keep them going for the next few days, and hope, unless the pipe fix helps. As long as OMF floor, they would need no other ventilation and a dilute feed should emulate nectar.

Regards, RAB

 

[The Riviera Kid]

i've found that even a humble jam jar with jam at the bottom and water in it is often enough to get them. once in they can't get out

I've closed my entrances right down and will put the mouse guards on as well so that there are just 2 small holes for the bees to defend.