Newly hived swarm, now wasps nest

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HowardBgood

New Bee
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Hampshire
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I'm on year 0 of my beekeeping hobby since capturing a swarm in my garden at the end of May. I was lucky enough to witness the whole process!! Still smiling [emoji2] from ear to ear.

The swarm I guess is small? Covering only 4, maybe 5 standard frames.

I have a trench in the garden which I'm laying a cable, very soon its going to be back filled. I've just found out that wasps have made a ground nest, close to the bottom of this trench in the side wall.

Will the wasps pose a problem for the bees, they are some 20M apart. When I do back fill in the trench, putting a foot or so of earth on the wasps entrance, will that be the end of them or will they dig themselves out?

The bees are doing great.

Any advice welcome.
Thanks

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Wasps rarely become an issue for bees until the autumn although many beeks will bump the nests off given half the chance. If you restrict the entrance to your hive at the correct time they should be little more than a nuisance.......Ian
 
I find wasps become a nuisance around 3rd week of July, at this time I rarely see them.
 
I'm on year 0 of my beekeeping hobby since capturing a swarm in my garden at the end of May. I was lucky enough to witness the whole process!! Still smiling [emoji2] from ear to ear.

The swarm I guess is small? Covering only 4, maybe 5 standard frames.

I have a trench in the garden which I'm laying a cable, very soon its going to be back filled. I've just found out that wasps have made a ground nest, close to the bottom of this trench in the side wall.

Will the wasps pose a problem for the bees, they are some 20M apart. When I do back fill in the trench, putting a foot or so of earth on the wasps entrance, will that be the end of them or will they dig themselves out?

The bees are doing great.

Any advice welcome.
Thanks

Sent from my SM-G975F using Tapatalk

I would kill them off now with Nest foam or powder. They won’t dig out but that would only work if there isn’t a mouse hole somewhere offering another entrance or means of escape.

They are a right pain end of July onwards And the bees will be Very twitchy on inspections once they Start looking to rob them or start fighting at the hive entrance. get rid of them now
 
Wasps are not a problem if you keep your colonies strong.
Never felt the need to kill them indiscriminately, I've only killed a few in the last ten years - one was in Dai bits and pieces' chicken shed, I did it as a favour as I used to use his table saw and planer, and he had had a triple heart bypass so had to be careful. Another was at the range where one of my apiaries is sited, it was in the shed where the muzzle loader boys cleaned their pieces so was a definite hazard. The last was last year, in our chicken shed and as SWMBO has developed systemic reactions to stings again, had to go.
 
Thanks for the comments so far.

Wasps are now taking the brood from the hive.

Worried now as the colony is still very small, but growing.

The wasps nest has been sorted. Hope these wasps attacking the hive came from this nest. If not, what can be done to control this situation?



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Thanks for the comments so far.

Wasps are now taking the brood from the hive.

Worried now as the colony is still very small, but growing.

The wasps nest has been sorted. Hope these wasps attacking the hive came from this nest. If not, what can be done to control this situation?



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What do you mean wasps are taking brood from the hive? If so there are clearly other issues.
 
Swarm was caught some 14 days ago. They are still building comb, seen eggs, larvae and capped brood. The swarm is small so venerable.

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Swarm was caught some 14 days ago. They are still building comb, seen eggs, larvae and capped brood. The swarm is small so venerable.

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Oops, venerable = vulnerable, in this instance. [emoji2960]

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Oops, venerable = vulnerable, in this instance. [emoji2960]

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With the colony so small one advantage you can give them is to make the entrance as small as possible, this makes it easier for the guards to defend. Make sure the Wasps haven't chewed their way in elsewhere.
 
With the colony so small one advantage you can give them is to make the entrance as small as possible, this makes it easier for the guards to defend. Make sure the Wasps haven't chewed their way in elsewhere.
Closing the entrance has helped.

Would servered legs on the inspection board be a symptom of wasp attacks?

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Zap the wasps with killer foam ,narrow the entrance.weather isnt good give them a feed.
. Dont worry the bees are designed to survive, but a little help will be welcome
 

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