viridens
Field Bee
- Joined
- Jul 24, 2010
- Messages
- 772
- Reaction score
- 97
- Location
- GB
- Hive Type
- warre
- Number of Hives
- 4. Experimenting with Warres after 30 years of Nationals
After that hard winter, I am surprised to have a major wasp problem this summer, worse than ever before. They have even been stripping wood off of the sides of hives for nest building! -Hordes of the little buggers hanging around the hives looking for a chance to dart in. I have seen wasps jumping on one another on the landing boards (inter-wasp nest rivalry?) -has anyone else seen this behaviour?
I had a search around, found & destroyed a wasp nest about 50 yards from the hives, but there are obviously other nests nearby on neighbouring land which I can't access. My hives are busy, and I have reduced the entrances as much as seems prudent given the bee traffic & hot weather, down to about 1". Although the guards are working hard & mainly keeping them out, it is clear that those wasps being dragged out are causing more damage & death to my poor workers than in normal years, and I wonder if they are after uncapped brood as well as honey.
Given that I can't get to the wasp nests to destroy them, the only alternative is to attract as many as possible and kill them. I can't spend ALL day around the hives squashing wasps & clapping them out of the air. There have to be more efficient ways to reduce their numbers. I have deployed many 'plastic bottle' wasp traps with fruit/jam/cola bait which are catching plenty of wasps, but not having any real affect on the local population.
I'm sure I can't be the only one with this problem, and there must be a lot of collected wisdom out there. Does anyone have a sure-fire wasp bait, or know of any other way they can be attracted? Killing them once attracted will be done electrically (I have an electronics background). The other way would be a toxic bait to be taken back to their nests to poison the brood (like 'Nippon' (= sugar water & Borax) for ants).
All suggestions greatfully received.
I had a search around, found & destroyed a wasp nest about 50 yards from the hives, but there are obviously other nests nearby on neighbouring land which I can't access. My hives are busy, and I have reduced the entrances as much as seems prudent given the bee traffic & hot weather, down to about 1". Although the guards are working hard & mainly keeping them out, it is clear that those wasps being dragged out are causing more damage & death to my poor workers than in normal years, and I wonder if they are after uncapped brood as well as honey.
Given that I can't get to the wasp nests to destroy them, the only alternative is to attract as many as possible and kill them. I can't spend ALL day around the hives squashing wasps & clapping them out of the air. There have to be more efficient ways to reduce their numbers. I have deployed many 'plastic bottle' wasp traps with fruit/jam/cola bait which are catching plenty of wasps, but not having any real affect on the local population.
I'm sure I can't be the only one with this problem, and there must be a lot of collected wisdom out there. Does anyone have a sure-fire wasp bait, or know of any other way they can be attracted? Killing them once attracted will be done electrically (I have an electronics background). The other way would be a toxic bait to be taken back to their nests to poison the brood (like 'Nippon' (= sugar water & Borax) for ants).
All suggestions greatfully received.
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