Wasps stroll in...

[Spikedog]

Noted wasps nonchalantly strolling into two of strongest hives this morning - not a bother on them or the 'guards'. I tapped loudly upon the hive and then out poured bees pulling up braces, squaring up and looking for bovver - bit late but did begin to protect the entrance. Reduced entrance (Mouse guards)... Noticed that all hives were in full flow and with little interest from wasps in the (sunny) afternoon. We are plagued by the yellow ones at present but does anyone know if they have a pattern of approach to hives - different times of day? The wasp traps (inverted bottles with cider) have been effective but sandcastles in face of advancing tides.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Have you got mouseguards along the whole entrance?
If you have then you are giving the bees lots of little entrances to guard.
Better reducing the entrance to two bee spaces with something solid like a customised entrance block

 

[Torq]

What part of Ireland are you in? We are plagued with them here. A strong colony was reduced down to 4 frames from wasp attacks, scores of dead wasps and bees on the hive floor. But the bottle traps are doing well!

 

[sharonh]

They are a right nuisance at the moment. Have you tried putting a small pane of glass leaning from landing board against front of hive, tape in place. Have the same problem here, but found this really helped. I have apiguard on at the moment so can't reduce the entrance, but the glass does make a difference, bees find there way around it but the wasps don't . I just used one from a picture frame. Hope this helps.. good luck. Sharon

 

[cork beek]

Same here! wasps hammered one of my hives so much so, that i had to put them in a nuc, there were only 3 frames of bees left!

I ended up moving them to another apiary. When i open the hive afterwards, this is what i found...

I had wasp traps next to and near the hive but the damage was already done

Still, judging by the amount of wasps in the trap, i got a good few of them

the nuc is doing well btw, if it was earlier in the season, i would be thinking of moving them to a brood chamber!

 

[Erichalfbee]

I have apiguard on at the moment so can't reduce the entrance,

Why not?
If you have the inspection tray in just ease it out a tad (half an inch?) and reduce the entrance.

 

[sharonh]

Why not?
If you have the inspection tray in just ease it out a tad (half an inch?) and reduce the entrance.

Great idea, must do that now, bees were going between OMF and tray so sealed it up with tape, but will give it a go to see.. Thanks

 

[sandysman]

Why not?
If you have the inspection tray in just ease it out a tad (half an inch?) and reduce the entrance.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Why not?
If you have the inspection tray in just ease it out a tad (half an inch?) and reduce the entrance.

For solid floor hives cut strips of omf perforated sheet and make entrance restrictors out of that. Air can circulate but bees and wasp access is via the gap you leave. This requires punched rather than woven type omf

 

[Torq]

Same here! wasps hammered one of my hives so much so, that i had to put them in a nuc, there were only 3 frames of bees left!

I ended up moving them to another apiary. When i open the hive afterwards, this is what i found...

I had wasp traps next to and near the hive but the damage was already done


Still, judging by the amount of wasps in the trap, i got a good few of them

the nuc is doing well btw, if it was earlier in the season, i would be thinking of moving them to a brood chamber!

Mine was like that too. At first you don't notice the dead wasps due to the huge numbers of dead bees.

 

[CathyRentahive]

Wasps

I often wonder whether putting out wasp traps actually attract the wasps more. I haven't put out traps for four years and tend to narrow the entrance as soon as I see the blighters. So far the bees seem able to control the entrance and of course they have mesh floors whilst going through the varroa treatment...so far so good.

 

[madasafish]

If you want to get personal with wasps, a small hand spray filled with water is a great tool. Set it to mist, spray a wasp - it will then fall to the ground - stand on it.
Repeat.

Killed 100+ in 20 minutes...

 

[BeeJayBee]

If you want to get personal with wasps, a small hand spray filled with water is a great tool. Set it to mist, spray a wasp - it will then fall to the ground - stand on it.
Repeat.

Killed 100+ in 20 minutes...

Excellent idea, thanks.

 

[GlenJ]

Great personal satisfaction - I'm all for it! - BUT- our forum wasp expert has previously said that squished wasp exudes alarm pheromone - as per bees - that attracts other wasps. I believe the moral of the story was "don't squish on your own doorstep!"

 

[madasafish]

Well yes, I read that too.

Appears - in my case - to make little noticeable difference. With traps and my killing sprees , the wasp numbers appear to have reduced dramatically - I must have killed in total around 4-500..or maybe more...

 

[Karol]

The advice was not to squish wasps on the hive because the hive gets repeatdely annointed with alarm pheromone which acts as a magnet to draw wasp to that specific location.

Squishing wasps randomly on the ground will still attract wasps but they will be dispersed because there won't be a central focus for them to concentrate on.

 

[madasafish]

I squish them randomly wherever I finds them...

 

[abm]

knowing a tad about wasps, they too are all individual scouts.
once a food source is located they too bring their mates.

the key is to not allow the scout to return.

I've read up on this type of trap and its above and beyond the rest of the wasp traps, I was that concerned I attended an 8 hour seminar on the product.

lots of videos on this... go have a look, its worth a try.

google waspbane.

 

[BeeJayBee]

google waspbane.

Karol is the one responsible for waspbane, it's his product, his website.

 

[Roola]

Karol is the one responsible for waspbane, it's his product, his website.

i notice on the website it says that it can also be used for wax moth, anyone don this and how?