Queen Wasp

[Ginger19]

Managed to catch a queen wasp today, was very lucky as she was in my shed yesterday - I opened the door and she flew out. Thought I had missed my chance but went in today and there she was. Turns out she is on her last legs, not flying just slowly walking around. Decided not to squish her. Took some pics and then trapped her to die.
I have some much bigger pics but not sure how to post them

 

[Dishmop]

Give it to the bees to play with.

 

[dpearce4]

been killing lots this year. they seem to be trying to get into the top of the hives.

 

[Heather]

Have clobbered 3 walking on my carpets. Another 4 near my hives. I will let all live that do not invade my space, but not if bees endangered. They were terrible last year.

 

[Midland Beek]

been killing lots this year. they seem to be trying to get into the top of the hives.

Killing magnificent creatures like bees and wasps is pathetic behaviour.

Wasps are generally only a problem to the most useless of beekeepers. And queen wasps generally come for wood from your hives to make a nest with and nothing else, preferring to catch small flying insects.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Killing magnificent creatures like bees and wasps is pathetic behaviour.

Wasps are generally only a problem to the most useless of beekeepers. And queen wasps generally come for wood from your hives to make a nest with and nothing else, preferring to catch small flying insects.

You are entitled to an opinion but it is completely at odds with mine regarding wasps. On my farm they get destroyed - you nurture yours if you like.

 

[dpearce4]

Killing magnificent creatures like bees and wasps is pathetic behaviour.

Wasps are generally only a problem to the most useless of beekeepers. And queen wasps generally come for wood from your hives to make a nest with and nothing else, preferring to catch small flying insects.

Get over yourself.

your calling many beekeepers useless, including some of the biggest beefarmers. All beekeepers will have a problem with them at sometime and having seen the damage they can do to a hive (not one of mine), I take no chances. sorry.

 

[Torq]

Killing magnificent creatures like bees and wasps is pathetic behaviour.

Wasps are generally only a problem to the most useless of beekeepers. And queen wasps generally come for wood from your hives to make a nest with and nothing else, preferring to catch small flying insects.

If you like them that much, put up your address and we can all post any queen wasps we find to you so you can give them the love you think they deserve.

Weather wise I think this is going to be a vintage year for beekeeping but also a disaster wrt wasps and we are going to have a battle on our hands in late autumn.

 

[yellowrage 53]

Killing magnificent creatures like bees and wasps is pathetic behaviour.

Wasps are generally only a problem to the most useless of beekeepers. And queen wasps generally come for wood from your hives to make a nest with and nothing else, preferring to catch small flying insects.

bulls++t only good one is a dead one sorry but it's only way to help our bee's

 

[oliver90owner]

MB is, perhaps, being hard on the new beeks because they don't know any better. As for the rest, they should, so in a lot of cases I sympathise with him.

There is a place in the environment for all the natural species, and wasps are particularly beneficial - unless you are one of the many who agree that indiscriminate killing of insects with poorly targeted insecticides such as neonicitinoids, you should be thinking about your actions, as a beekeeper, to try to be less than useless at avoiding wasp problems.

Most wasp problems are caused by beekeepers - new or unknowing. The main beekeepers who are not able to avoid trouble are the new beeks with only one colony. Perhaps 'useless' is a strong term to use but if the cap fits, then wear it - as the saying goes. If you keep getting wasp problems, look at your beekeeping practices, and don't always blame the wasps.

 

[Ben90]

MB is, perhaps, being hard on the new beeks because they don't know any better. As for the rest, they should, so in a lot of cases I sympathise with him.

There is a place in the environment for all the natural species, and wasps are particularly beneficial - unless you are one of the many who agree that indiscriminate killing of insects with poorly targeted insecticides such as neonicitinoids, you should be thinking about your actions, as a beekeeper, to try to be less than useless at avoiding wasp problems.

Most wasp problems are caused by beekeepers - new or unknowing. The main beekeepers who are not able to avoid trouble are the new beeks with only one colony. Perhaps 'useless' is a strong term to use but if the cap fits, then wear it - as the saying goes. If you keep getting wasp problems, look at your beekeeping practices, and don't always blame the wasps.

Agreed - it's easy to forget that wasps have their own crucial ecological role as biological pest controllers. It's unfortunate that their sweet tooth often puts them at odds with beekeepers, but even in my limited experience I've found that simple measures like putting on an entrance reducer, avoiding spillage of feed or honey/nectar residues in the grass in the apiary significantly reduces the apiary's attractiveness to wasps.

Only as a last resort would I turn to active extermination of wasps. They're fascinating creatures in their own right, and don't forget - bees evolved from wasp ancestors millions of years ago.

 

[Midland Beek]

You are entitled to an opinion but it is completely at odds with mine regarding wasps. On my farm they get destroyed - you nurture yours if you like.

You run a farm but do not realize the value of wasps to farmers? (Assuming you do some growing).

 

[Karol]

I think it's quite sad when beekeepers don't respect nature. Whilst I agree with MB I would refrain from going as far as saying that beeks who kill wasps are useless. It is true that no apiary need suffer wasps unnecessarily and that if they do then it's generally a sign of poor husbandry and a lack of knowledge. Killing queens shows a significant misunderstanding of wasp management and ecological naivety.

 

[TryingToLetThemBee]

I do not wish to criticize anyone individually, but remember every post you make contributes to the impression you give to readers of this forum.

 

[bontbee]

I, too, am always sad to hear beekeepers reporting how many queen wasps they have killed - for all the reasons already given.

Wasps are amazing creatures with a life cycle as fascinating as our bees. Don't all the beeks advocating mass wasp slaughter get p**d off by members of the public who kill bees, or any other insect for that matter, "in case it stings"! What happened to live and let live?

 

[biglongdarren]

i had around a dozen over wintering in the roof space of my hives and all got spared.
when they start annoying my bees i'll look into it further maybe.
Darren.

 

[madasafish]

Around 6 queen wasps seen this year - a marked increase over last year (2?) but fewer than 2012 (10+)..

I leave them all.. the only nests I do destroy are those in our house eaves that I can reach (the single storey section) where they are a pest to humans. The ones in the double storey are out of reach and no problem.

The local foxes/badgers destroy any ground nests....



The only problem I have with wasps is with weak hives: so I have a choice: death by wasps or death by robbing by bees...

I thought the essence of beekeeping was to be in touch with nature. Judging by some of the comments I would be ashamed to be associated with some beekeepers.. presumably ignorance of the vital role wasps play in nature is partially responsible.. No wonder some natural beekeepers are so rude about some conventional beekeepers..

 

[Heather]

I try to respect all insects, but I have had quite a few nests near my hives, and I put bees there for my convenience, so I will protect my bees too. No wasps nests near them and none in my roof space where they can give me problems. Otherwise they are free to nest elsewhere.

MB, do you never cull a bad queen bee?? A vicious hive with bad queen genes??

 

[babnik42]

So those advocating we should respect all insects (and I'm not saying you shouldn't), what's your take on Asian hornets? Caught a few Queens already this spring. Wasps are ok, but the hornets are invaders and shouldn't be here so I have no qualms in getting rid of them.

Sent from my GT-I9505 using Tapatalk

 

[oliver90owner]

Babnik,

You might have noticed I used the word 'natural' in my post. Carefully excluding the unnatural environmental disasters caused by human activity. This was just another of them.

Of course, the spread of varroa was an 'unfortunate' episode, also. Typically, interference by humans results in later ecological disasters. Need to think here of neonicotinide pesticides and GM crops in the same context. Plenty of others one can list. DDT, CFCs, asbestos, CJD will do just as a start.