wasp hibernating (photos)

[keith pierce]

i was scraping down my empty nuc boxes ,and storing them away for winter when i came across a load of queen wasp tucked away and gone into hibernation. There must of been over twenty of them.



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[Flatters]

It looks like the warm weather is being ignored by these queens. I did see a wasp today when looking at some ivy. There were still lots of bees on the ivy but there was also a lone wasp.

Great photos BTW

I get wasps in the house during winter. When I bring wood in from the wood pile for the fire, about an hour later I get a dozy wasp flying in the room.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Wow. Do they communally bunk down together then? Think I assumed they found next years nest then went to sleep

 

[Swarm]

MA,
No, they find a suitably safe place to hibernate and then find a nest location when they emerge in the Spring, similar to Bumble bees.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Thanks Swarm, live and learn. Do they tend to rest in groups like this?

 

[Bee-Key-Pur]

It looks like a treacle pudding to me, no wonder there are wasps on it....

 

[bees4u]

great photos

 

[BILL.HEARD]

One year found nearly fifty at an apiary site hibernating between the brood chambers and roofs, killed the lot but made little difference to the number of wasps the following summer.

 

[JamezF]

I've had eight hives open this afternoon to check the stores situation. I found twenty-two queen wasps in total, hibernating up under the side of the roof.

James

 

[johnmcc]

Wish mine they'd hibernate round here - they're still robbing and ignoring the traps I've put out.

 

[BeeMoustashe]

re wasp traps, I was having great difficulty in the summer with them (been lucky in the recent warm spell though), then tried the 'waspbane' trap. Bit reluctant as it's a bit pricey, but cleared the wasps in a few days. Heartily recommend.

 

[Bee-Key-Pur]

Bye the way, great photos...
You know that a great photo is mostly about the phocal point and these are very good....

 

[Erichalfbee]

re wasp traps, I was having great difficulty in the summer with them (been lucky in the recent warm spell though), then tried the 'waspbane' trap. Bit reluctant as it's a bit pricey, but cleared the wasps in a few days. Heartily recommend.

I had great success with one. It was the one and only trap I had,put up before the wasp season downwind of the apiary. It caught a goodly number of wasps though not what I would call "thousands" and the hives were largely left alone.
I'll use one again next year.
The previous year I put bottle traps all over the place and caught gazillions and still had many attacking the hives.

Great picture, by the way.

 

[victor meldrew]

I have used bottle traps in the past and also caught zillions
One year I started early, theory being , to decimate before numbers had built up !
Big mistake , it was my worst year for wasp attacks .
This year I didn't use a single trap ; I relied on apiary hygiene ,also my colonies required zero feeding . This has proved to be my best year regarding wasp attacks (No noticeable ones)
My apiary is surrounded by balsam which this year was worked extensively by wasps usually earlier than the bees and working later, yet with all the nests that must have been around, my bees were left alone .
Sometimes I think our attempts at erradicating the wasp by trapping results in attracting them to the apiary ?
If you must deploy traps, I suggest you site them away from the apiary , at least 50 metres !
VM

 

[BeeMoustashe]

Sometimes I think our attempts at erradicating the wasp by trapping results in attracting them to the apiary ?
VM

Only if they aren't very good! Principal is, if the scout wasp finds a trap, and is trapped, it can't tell the other wasps where the good stuff is. I used bottle traps initially which weren't too good, attracted in and then let them back out again. Wasps everywhere until the above mentioned trap was set- cleared the issue right up because if it went in, it stayed in and other wasps weren't brought in en mass.

The wasp nest three plots up in a compost heap didn't really help either

 

[keith pierce]

re wasp traps, I was having great difficulty in the summer with them (been lucky in the recent warm spell though), then tried the 'waspbane' trap. Bit reluctant as it's a bit pricey, but cleared the wasps in a few days. Heartily recommend.

I wonder if they would be a good thing to use in the spring time and catch all the queens as they come out of hibernation

 

[BeeMoustashe]

I wonder if they would be a good thing to use in the spring time and catch all the queens as they come out of hibernation

Funnily enough there is a warning on the box to not put the trap out too early as it's so effective it would harm the local biodiversity by catching said queens! Advertising hype much??

I'll pop one out in March just to be on the safe side though...

 

[victor meldrew]

Funnily enough there is a warning on the box to not put the trap out too early as it's so effective it would harm the local biodiversity by catching said queens! Advertising hype much??

I'll pop one out in March just to be on the safe side though...

You've obviously swallowed the propaganda
My traps don't let wasps out
I know all about the wasps pheromone trails but some wasps ,instead of queuing for entry are attracted to the activity around the hives thus leaving their own alternative pheromone trails !
VM

 

[keith pierce]

Think i might get me a few

 

[Travelator]

Years ago, I had several instances of wasps hibernating in my trainers. And I only found out they were there when they woke up and stung my toes.

The trainers in question were permanently bolted to the inside of a rowing boat, so it wasn't easy to peer inside or give them a shake.