Wasp Bane

[boywonder]

My experience with my Waspbane has been good. Downwind better in the case of a hive attack, I guess, but it will hoover up your wasps anywhere. In the case of 'non-specific' wasp activity, I site well away from my hives, to lure the wasps there (one or two will escape - no matter what, and I guess they will communicate the location). As others state, Karol (who I believe is associated with the product) is the authority. Judging by the number of Waspbane traps I saw at Alton Towers the other day, he's probably contributing to this thread from a yacht in St Tropez I'm going to be looking into underfloor entrances for next year.

 

[gmonag]

I put a sign up saying No Wasps Invited and that seems to work as well.

Do you have those available for sale?

 

[tonyofarr]

I used Waspbane for the first time last year in the out building that my supers are stored in and it was brilliant, it got rid of all the wasps that were piling in there.

I had to put a waspbane at an out apiary several weeks ago because I had wasps trying to get in all the hives and the bees were really on the defensive, this apiary is now a lot calmer; I thought I would have hundreds of wasps in the trap, but there were a couple of dozen.

I am now having a lot of wasps hanging around the home apiary which has nucs/hives in 3 separate areas. All entrances have been narrowed but I am being greedy and having one more batch of virgin queens in mating nucs and these are the most vulnerable to wasps, so more waspbane as in previous years I have seen mating nucs wiped out in a couple of days by wasps.

 

[Monbees]

Waspbane did a fantastic job on one hive last year. By the time l realised what was happening the wasps all knew where the hive was so l placed three waspbanes around and on top of the hive to catch all wasps whether scouts or frenzy feeders (far too late to place waspbane at a distance away from the hive as l have done this year). I also closed up the hive at night time, not releasing the bees until 8 or 9 in the morning, by which time the wasps had been up and about for a couple of hours and desperate for honey, but failing honey obviously waspbane was a good alternative for them. By the time it was all over - October - l had caught many many hundreds of wasps. I know wasp nests hold thousands but l know for sure waspbane saved this hive.
The hive was much weakened and the queen stopped laying, through stress l imagine, too late to re-queen so treated for varroa, and fed through winter, well insulated, and would you believe it, has turned out to be my strongest hive this year? Wasps can be beaten!

 

[pargyle]

Do you have those available for sale?

Yes ... as usual ... Normal price £9.99 inc postage and packing .. discount to Forum members 25% .. a snip at £7.50. Complete with double sided sticker for mounting to a suitable surface.

 

[Apiarisnt]

On page 9 of this https://herefordshirebeekeepers.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2019/08/HBKAnewsletter-August-2019.pdf there instructions on how to make another form of tunnel / baffle entrance, with pictures. Note there is also a Waspbane in the bottom left hand corner of the bottom left hand photograph

 

[Karol]

Do you have any pictures of tunnel entrances please?
Thanks

As per Angry_Mob's post above. A 100mm shim gives about 6 defending bee ranks. The tunnel can be extended further if needed simply by adding another shim.

 

[Karol]

<snip> Karol <snip>he's probably contributing to this thread from a yacht in St Tropez <snip>

Common misconception. We're actually a healthcare business spun out of the NHS. All our profits are re-invested into patient or public health focused projects.

 

[patrickr]

Please let us know how you get on / how effective the trap is - I have some others (not wasp bane) which are proving to be pretty poor.

Hi

Thought I get back to you having used the Wasp Bane for a few weeks. It's excellent at catching wasps. And what makes it great is that they can't get out and tell their mates about the sweet source. I can see the logic in setting it up downwind but the practicalities of moving it every day are a little more difficult to accomplish. At one point I felt I had alot of wasps at one entrance to a hive so I closed the entrance and put the Wasp Bane right in front of the entrance for an hour. Fewer wasps that day! Karol was very helpful at answering my queries. It does trap other insects including our indigenous hornets which I feel bad about... Good luck!

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

Hi

Thought I get back to you having used the Wasp Bane for a few weeks. It's excellent at catching wasps. And what makes it great is that they can't get out and tell their mates about the sweet source. I can see the logic in setting it up downwind but the practicalities of moving it every day are a little more difficult to accomplish. At one point I felt I had alot of wasps at one entrance to a hive so I closed the entrance and put the Wasp Bane right in front of the entrance for an hour. Fewer wasps that day! Karol was very helpful at answering my queries. It does trap other insects including our indigenous hornets which I feel bad about... Good luck!

Thanks Pat, things got so bad here my other half bought me two. I have destroyed two wasp nests close to the apiary since and things are a lot better. The Wasp Banes do appear to be a cut above the other traps I’m using.
Thanks for the update and I hope the rest of the season goes well for you.