Wasps!

[Stevie Day]

I too have noticed wasps earlier & more in number about the hives this year. From the posts on the forum it sounds like it could be a summer of the jaspers.

I haven't decided on whether to put up traps yet cos of the pros & cons.

[QUOTE Originally Posted by Karol View Post
When using high efficiency wasp traps (that have no communicable attraction) the trick is to place the trap so that it's scent plume is confined within the natural scent plume of the hives and that way it won't increase risk but will actively help defend the hives. Hope this makes sense. [/QUOTE]

If setting A wasp trap. Are you saying to put it close to the hives, so that traps scent plume beyond the hives is masked by the hives scent - so not attracting wasps to the hives? But a wasp about the hives will be attracted to the traps scent?

Also thinking ahead. There are apple & plum trees on the land where my hives are. When the fruit falls & rots. Will they attract the wasps away from the hives, as its an easier source of sugars?

 

[kazmcc]

I noticed a wasp nosing round the hive this evening when pottering around the garden. What surprised me (what with only having had bees a couple on months) was just how little notice the bees took of it. I assumed that any wasp that came within two feet of a hive would instantly be marked for death and attacked with extreme prejudice, but not a bit of it.

It kept disappearing under the hive, so i thought it may be gaining access via the OMF somehow, but having laid down and had a look, it the wasp was jut walking over the underside of the OMF and the ~50 bees that were also under there paid no attention to it, even to the extent that the wasp was walking over them and they didn't react.

It also seemed to go off on a little patrol of the seam between the BB and Super and also had a sniff around the entrance. Again, the bees just ignored it despite several of them flying straight into it when leaving the hive.

The entrance is only ~3" wide (the smallest hole the entrance bock has), and is normally fairly busy with bees, so I guess if the wasp tried to enter they'd have a go at it, but as a newbie the paranoia has me imaging open the hive this weekend and finding i've become the proud owner of a family of feral wasp.

I guess there's not much i can do to discourage the wasp, short of taking up camp next to the hive and becoming a Raid sniper whenever I see it and hope the bees don't become collateral damage. All joking aside, is this anything to worry about?

You really need to try and kill any wasps that come a sniffin'. That'll be a scout, and if it gets back to the nest with word of your hives, you will have a problem. They usually have a sniff under the OMF, as they can smell the honey and are looking for an easy way in. Soon it will work out it has to go through the door, and hopefully your bees will finish it off. Once the robbing starts, your bees will react. Narrow down your entrance to one bee width for a while. The waspbane site has lots of great info on what you can do to help your bees, without pushing the product. Have a search of this forum too. Type in Karol's name in the search bar, he always gives excellent advice.

Good luck!

 

[Erichalfbee]

They usually have a sniff under the OMF, as they can smell the honey and are looking for an easy way in

This behaviour is what Vita's hornet/wasp trap is based on. I had a good look at it at the WBKA convention with a view to copying it but never got round to it. I would be interested to see if anybody has one.

 

[maddydog]

Two wasps got trapped under my polycarbonate cb during an inspection the other day. Interesting to watch how the bees dealt with them. A single bee is no match for a wasp and the colony relies on tag team tactics to wear them down. The last bee to tackle a wasp is then roughly interrogated by one of her kin - presumably because she smells of wasp?

 

[Karol]

They usually have a sniff under the OMF, as they can smell the honey and are looking for an easy way in

This behaviour is what Vita's hornet/wasp trap is based on. I had a good look at it at the WBKA convention with a view to copying it but never got round to it. I would be interested to see if anybody has one.

This is a technology that we looked at introducing some 15 years ago but decided against it for the simple reason that we did not see the wisdom of having so many angry wasps emitting alarm pheromone in such close proximity to the hive constantly stressing the bees and further attracting more wasps to the hive. The more bees that are put on alert (sentry duty) the less foraging that they do and the more reserves they consume.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Thanks, Karol. I hadn't considered that but it seems obvious. At least a wasp in a trap is a dead one

 

[Sadders]

Was commenting to a fellow beek today that its the worst season for wasps that I can remember for a while. Lost a colony to the buggers robbing.

Unfortunately I dont drink fizzy drinks so I've been begging bottles to make traps.

 

[theeggman]

We buy dry cider from a well known German food chain for pennies, the contents get sloshed into the cooking, that's the technical term for adding liquid, and I gain the empty bottles for trap use. I do however use the cartridge gun ends purchased via fleapay to improve wasp retention. They were mentioned on a previous thread but if requested I will post a piccy, (sorry Karol).

 

[Karol]

Was commenting to a fellow beek today that its the worst season for wasps that I can remember for a while. Lost a colony to the buggers robbing.

Sorry to say but the wasp season hasn't kicked off proper yet. The nests that we are monitoring are still in the hunting phase. Lots of sweet feeding wasps displaced from treated nests though. Just spent the last couple of days filming roosting behaviour of wasps displaced from a nest. The roost is now 8 days old and still about 150 wasps strong.

Unfortunately I dont drink fizzy drinks so I've been begging bottles to make traps.

Just a word of caution. Get your traps wrong and you may lose more of your hives.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Karol,
Do your traps have a use by date?
What I mean is can you make them up well before the "wasp season" and leave them still effective when they are needed?

 

[shawn-caza]

Just a word of caution. Get your traps wrong and you may lose more of your hives.

What kind of things could go wrong? I've tried the diy bait bottle in the past and caught many wasps. I just set one up again today. What should I watch out for?

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

What kind of things could go wrong? I've tried the diy bait bottle in the past and caught many wasps. I just set one up again today. What should I watch out for?

You've started something now, Shawn-caza!
There's a long history to this on the Forum, as you will soon discover.

This is my summary - itself a dangerous thing to do!

1) Karol is an acknowledged expert in wasps and wasp control. He posts often - and very helpfully in my opinion, being generous with his time and knowledge. But sometimes he gets challenged and provoked into lengthy discussions, which can get very heated. It's a great spectator sport, but not for the faint hearted.

2) Karol also sells a highly sophisticated and effective wasp trap!

3) In brief, if I'm summarising correctly, wasps send out scouts to find sources of food, from late July onwards, when their colony life cycle means they're starting to starve to death. They report back to their home colonies, which then return in huge numbers, to pillage the source of food.

4) The trouble with the bait bottle is that it's not very efficient. Whilst a lot of wasps do die in them, some escape, to return to their colonies, with news of this fantastic source of food. The full wasp traps are a sign, not of success, but of failure, as they show the capture of even larger numbers of wasps which have been drawn to your apiary.

5) The trap which Karol developed and sells, is designed to be as near as damned, 100% efficient, in enticing scouts into the trap - then in not letting any escape. So, if the scouts can't escape, they can't inform their colonies about this rich source of food which is your apiary. The sign of this is, that the high-efficiency wasp trap contains far, far fewer wasps than the bait bottle.

6) I have used them the last two years, in a couple of apiaries I have. In my home apiary, the summers have ended with vey few wasps trapped and no problems. In the other - in the city centre, with a huge wasp problem - the traps have collected a lot of wasps over the late summer and autumn - but my hives have remained intact.

7) But how do you prove a negative? Would I have had a problem if I'd not used wasp traps, or used bait bottle traps?

I think that's a fair summary, but put your tin hat on!

I will, however, be buying his wasp traps again this year - though they're pretty expensive.



Dusty.

P.s. I have no connection to Karol or his wasp trap.

 

[Erichalfbee]

 

[kazmcc]

I think the trick is to place your traps within the scent plume of your hives, not dotted around your apiary, attracting wasps that would otherwise pass you by. Make sure your traps are escape proof. Narrow down your entrance. I read on Karol's site, where he gives great advice to bee keepers without pushing his product, that a long, narrow entrance, such as a piece of tubing, gives your bees a good defense, as the wasp has to get past bee after bee and can't sneak by, as I saw when my hive was under attack. Those entrance blocks that come with a lot of hives are too wide IME, as wasps can still sneak by once there are many attempting to do so.

I'm starting to learn how to identify wasps now, they are fascinating insects! Who would have thought it? Thanks to Karol

 

[Tremyfro]

Me too...and you can dismantle the Waspbane and recharge it...so mine are in use again.....not seen any wasps for a couple of days now...but a few are in the traps!

 

[B+.]

Dusty.

P.s. I have no connection to Karol or his wasp trap.

Since he can't advertise himself, would you like to do it for him? or pm me please?

 

[theeggman]

Post #13 in this thread will give you lead for a google.

 

[B+.]

Post #13 in this thread will give you lead for a google.

Thanks. I just wanted to be clear which product you were talking about.

I know the rules exist for a very good reason and I don't mean to incite anyone to break them.

 

[BeeJayBee]

There doesn't seem any problem with linking to the waspbane site, I did it in this thread http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=34666

 

[stephenpug]

just been on the site put my card details in twice and each time it came back "fatal error" just hope it hasnt cost me