Wasps - a pain in the ####

[Gower]

Hi

can anyone advise approx what time of the year wasp numbers start to decline? my guess is that it should be around now as the weather starts to get cooler, however there's no noticable decrease in numbers where i live! i've a smalish colony which i've started feeding, redued the opening with an entrance block and stuffed the remaining gap with grass to reduce the opening further to just a few cms. The wasps still seem to be in and out without any difficulty, and little signs of any guard bee activity....

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Do you have an out-apiary that you could move them to for a while? Might just break the habit with the wasps.

 

[Gower]

my hives are over 2 apiaries. the site where the problem is has 5 hives on it but they are only targetting the one, clearly weaker hive. at the other apiary i'm afraid i have no more room to accommodate another hive...

 

[Rosti]

get some fine round electrical conduit (about 10mm diameter)

tape three/four 40mm lengths together and gaffa tape it into the entrance and seal round. The wasps dont seem to like tunnels and if they do enter the bees find them easier to defend, doesn't seem to interupt your normal forrager traffic. You will get some congestion but that helps with the defense, can always add another tube.

 

[Gower]

sounds good to me - thanks for the tip!

 

[rae]

Close them up (with syrup) for a few days first.

Once they have given up, they will continue to give up, whatever you do. 3 days of peace and quiet, and the guard bees are ready at whatever defences you decide to create....

 

[isc26]

No idea if this works but have heard others talk about leaning a sheet of perspex at an angle in front of the enterence, supposedly confuses wasps but not bees heading home.

 

[Midland Beek]

The wasps still seem to be in and out without any difficulty, and little signs of any guard bee activity....

Well then your bees have probably had it. You need to put a weak syrup feed on so as to provide water, and block up the entrance completely for a few days. Bump the wasps out in the evening before you block up.

 

[Gower]

i added a full 14x12 frame of sealed worker brood on Sunday from a prolific hive, and will top up the syrup tonight then seal the entrance until the weekend. fingers crossed!

 

[greatbritishhoney]

Keep a very close eye on them if you are sealing them up. It's pretty warm at the moment - you could end up with a lot of dead bees.