Wasps robbing nuc

[Tdod]

I have sat watching my hives and the nuc which contains my old queen which I took out of the main hive when supercedure cells arrived is being robbed as a beginner I have not seen this or know what to do. The entrance is as small as I can get it, the wasps just squeeze in, there are not many bees in this nuc so i suppose you would say it was weak.
I have set up some wasp traps but they seem to be ignoring them
any advice??

 

[oliver90owner]

More bees. Lots more

 

[BeeJayBee]

You could try putting a pane of glass or a sheet of perspex angled across the entrance, with the lower edge resting on the ground below the hive. It might be enough to confuse the wasps, the bees will soon work it out.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Can you move them?

 

[Tdod]

when you say move them do you mean somewhere else in the garden or away to say another apiary?

 

[Bitbybit]

It will have to be another apiary - three mile rule

 

[Tdod]

Am I unlucky or are wasps always a problem to the weaker colony. If I was to move them there is a chance of the same happening..

there are hardly any flying bees in the nuc they have mostly gone back to the main hive so if I moved it in the garden I dont think to many bees would be lost but would the wasps find it again?

Not really sure what to do

 

[richardbees]

You've got to get a lot more bees into that nuc.

I suggest you lift a frame from the bb of the original hive, give it a good shake until most of the bees have gone ----then shake/brush ALL of the remaining bees into the nuc - these will be house/nurse bees which will stay, repeat with another four frames.

Moving won't help....

good luck

 

[Tdod]

I could try that will the bees not fight due to the different smells i thought you could not just put bees from one hive into another

 

[oliver90owner]

Spray all the bees with aftershave, deoderant or something to mask the different smells. Or dust them well with icing sugar.

 

[richardbees]

Oliver's right (I've got a can of 'haze') but you shouldn't have a problem ...... haven't you only just made up the nuc from that same hive?

 

[Tdod]

I turned the entrance wheel to the vented travel screen section about 6pm(friday) to stop the wasps getting in how long can you leave the nuc shut while i sort out what to do would it be alright untill sunday there is plenty of stores in there?

 

[oliver90owner]

Remember, likely there are wasps trapped in the hive, so what do you think might happen when you open it up again? (I know you said you will have sorted out what to do by then)

 

[Tdod]

I have moved the Nuc to my parents house its not quite 3 mile but as there are very few flying bees if any dont think the loss will be to bad if the nuc can start to grow in numbers all will be good, just hope that I dont have the same problem with wasps there at least untill there numbers are up...