Wasp takeover

[Boston Bees]

I have 17 colonies this year (7 hives, 10 nucs). Having all survived the 2020 waspmaggedon so far, one nuc has finally been over-run in recent days. There are still bees coming in with pollen (i.e. not robbers) but there are now wasps going in and out freely by the dozen. The entrance hole has been one-bee-space for some time.

So, fine, not bothered by this at all really - it's natural selection which I am rather a fan of (this colony never mounted a strong defensive guard, unlike other nucs, and if they can't look after themselves they don't deserve to survive). I would be disappointed if all my colonies survived winter given that I get a lot of them from local swarms, and some of those swarms will have genetics that aren't suited to the locality.

I could move the nuc, but then the wasps would just focus on its neighbour. Hence I have, so far, decided to just leave this colony to take one for the team.

At some point, though, it will become a potential liability, as plainly I don't want other colonies to start robbing it (it may have disease I guess - it was fine 6 weeks ago but haven't inspected since then for obvious reasons). It has plenty of food.

So, if this was one of your hives, and you didn't want to save the colony (I don't), how long would you leave it? And what would you do with the remnants?

I appreciate that an answer may be impossible without me opening the hive up and reporting on many bees remain and other matters. That's probably what I need to do next - bit cold but no harm I guess.

 

[Curly green finger's]

I have 17 colonies this year (7 hives, 10 nucs). Having all survived the 2020 waspmaggedon so far, one nuc has finally been over-run in recent days. There are still bees coming in with pollen (i.e. not robbers) but there are now wasps going in and out freely by the dozen. The entrance hole has been one-bee-space for some time.

So, fine, not bothered by this at all really - it's natural selection which I am rather a fan of (this colony never mounted a strong defensive guard, unlike other nucs, and if they can't look after themselves they don't deserve to survive). I would be disappointed if all my colonies survived winter given that I get a lot of them from local swarms, and some of those swarms will have genetics that aren't suited to the locality.

I could move the nuc, but then the wasps would just focus on its neighbour. Hence I have, so far, decided to just leave this colony to take one for the team.

At some point, though, it will become a potential liability, as plainly I don't want other colonies to start robbing it (it may have disease I guess - it was fine 6 weeks ago but haven't inspected since then for obvious reasons). It has plenty of food.

So, if this was one of your hives, and you didn't want to save the colony (I don't), how long would you leave it? And what would you do with the remnants?

I appreciate that an answer may be impossible without me opening the hive up and reporting on many bees remain and other matters. That's probably what I need to do next - bit cold but no harm I guess.

I think if it's a complete goner in your situation I would squash the Queen and shake them out.

Me being me, I would move them and save them if the queen was prolific enough, and I would do something with them next season if they survived the winter.

 

[Murox]

Is it the case where there are 'many' hives that they are far more prone to wasp invasions? if so is the opposite true ?
Whether or not you try and save them is very much an "it all depends" sort of decision. Also hangs on your attitude and hive numbers to I think. That said I too would attempt some sort of a rescue.

 

[drex]

Last week I noticed that the WBC I installed at an animal sanctuary run by some friends, had wasps coming and going freely with little bee traffic. I am not there that often, but the last time I looked in, the colony was good and strong. I did not open them up. I reduced the entry down to two bee spaces.
Today I went and had a look and bees were coming and going frequently and not one wasp seen. You may be in luck still.

 

[Boston Bees]

Last week I noticed that the WBC I installed at an animal sanctuary run by some friends, had wasps coming and going freely with little bee traffic. I am not there that often, but the last time I looked in, the colony was good and strong. I did not open them up. I reduced the entry down to two bee spaces.
Today I went and had a look and bees were coming and going frequently and not one wasp seen. You may be in luck still.

Fair points. I shan't give up then. I have installed a plastic screen in front of the entrance and also a plastic tube to extend the nuc entrance tunnel to 4" or so. Will see if that helps...... If they don't make it, so be it.

Wish the local wasps would get with the calendar and just die ....

 

[beeno]

Fair points. I shan't give up then. I have installed a plastic screen in front of the entrance and also a plastic tube to extend the nuc entrance tunnel to 4" or so. Will see if that helps...... If they don't make it, so be it.

Wish the local wasps would get with the calendar and just die ....

Sounds likes my other half who has been waiting all summer to paint the chimney - just finished.

 

[BernardBlack]

Watched a wasp enter yesterday, and 30 seconds or so later, leave. Plenty of bees coming and going but this wasp seemed unaffected.

Reduced entrance to 4 bee space (arches) in mouse guard. Might reduce it further.

 

[Amari]

My best yield of spring honey (3-4 supers) came from a hive in an out-apiary three miles away. 2019 purchased Buckfast queen. However come early August the hive was being invaded by wasps so I moved it back to base. The invasion continued and inspection revealed a reduced number of bees and brood so I transferred them to a nuc on a third site. The problem continued until a final inspection showed the queen with very few bees so I culled her and threw the bees out.

My suggested explanation: Queen failure. Maybe she just ran out of eggs?

 

[Boston Bees]

For those who kindly commented on my question, a quick update. I investigated this double-height-nuc today and found evidence of laying workers. This was presumably why they had lost the will to repel wasps. Still quite a few bees though, and the drone brood looked perfectly healthy, so I shook out in front of other hives, which seems to have been a success.

So I guess the lesson is, if you have a colony which seems inexplicably more under attack by wasps than your other colonies then there may be an underlying issue that needs to be investigated on the warmest day possible.