Use of a wasp screen

[Paddyg]

My weaker hive, now in a poly nuc, is somewhat under attack from wasps. Research suggests that an anti robber screen works so I have cobbled one together. Has anyone any experience of using them?

 

[Erichalfbee]

My weaker hive, now in a poly nuc, is somewhat under attack from wasps. Research suggests that an anti robber screen works so I have cobbled one together. Has anyone any experience of using them?

I haven’t. The experience of a lot of people whose nucs get seriously attacked is to move them and even that doesn’t always work.
You could look at this
https://beekeepingforum.co.uk/threads/wasp-tunnel-mark-two.45362/

 

[drex]

Tried mesh screens, sheets of glass, under floor entrances which all work to an extent as Dani says. In my experience the trunking tunnel is the most efficient. However prevention is better than cure. Keep strong colonies ( or dummy down) , small entrances in wasp season. In my early years I had one full hive decimated by wasps and do not want that repeated. It is heart sinking to open a colony and just find thousands of wasps. Mercifully now my prevention measures have worked so far. As Dani says you might be better moving them if they are under a lot of pressure

 

[gmonag]

Deploy traps in front of the hives.

 

[Swarm]

If they are being overwhelmed and wasps are gaining access, it will not stop and even bee width entrances won't help. Best option is to move them until the wasps are gone. Try to make sure their new site is safer.
I had to move a nuc this year and within hours they were under attack again and would have perished so I gave the queen to a friend rather than lose her.

 

[Paddyg]

Thank you for your replies. The wasp tunnel looks intriguing so may give that a go. Meanwhile it was seriously wet yesterday but wasps still in attack mode. Consequently I added traps including one consisting of (sweet) coke and raw chicken. I then spent 15 minutes thwacking the wasps with a fly swat until no more came out of the nuc. I have now shut the hive for 48 hrs but will check it is wasp free. Hopefully the wasps will now find my revolting traps more interesting. Note bees safe as too cold and wet for them to come out.

 

[janetbee]

If they are under strong attack then I think that moving them is the only answer. The wasp gadgets work best when they are put in place before the wasps start invading. I have had success with moving them about 1/2 mile away. It is usually a nuc or weak colony so not difficult to move. Unusually, I have had hardly any wasps this year. Hope this isn't FLW's!

 

[Amari]

Deploy traps in front of the hives.

I doubt if that works. I've got two WaspBanes and one Apishield in my home apiary of nine hives. Massive wasp catch but still the wasps try to invade, including finishing off a threatened hive that I'd moved from an out-apiary.

The owners of an adjacent mansion with a large garden have called the local pest-control man nine times this year to destroy wasp nests in the soil. There are probably dozens of other nests around. I don't know how many eggs a Q wasp lays per day but I suspect my catch is a drop in the ocean

 

[Rowena]

This year has been bad and I deployed my traps early and my Perspex entrance covers but funny enough my strong hives were the ones being battered and not my 2 Nucs quietly sat behind them. Not sure why this was the case at all maybe to do more with the bees themselves and how they decide to tolerate the wasps, then once they are let in they don’t realise what they are in for.