where are the wasps?

[peteinwilts]

Have I missed them? (or have they missed me?)

there are a few around my storage areas, and one or two poking around the hives, but that's it.
Last year I lost several NUC's and two smaller hives to them.

I destroyed many nearby wasps nests last year, but have not yet found any or been called out to any this year.

... due to the crappy august maybe?

anyone having wasp problems?

this is not a complaint!

 

[enrico]

Loads of wasps here but there has been a wasps nest I just can't find, not too rough with the bees yet but plenty of plums etc for them to be on so bees too much of a challenge.
E

 

[kazmcc]

They are still foraging for insects here, so that may be why they haven't been bothering your bees yet. Fingers crossed they've missed you this year.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Started looking for sweet things around here now - loads at one apiary Monday and they'd found a way into one of the supers I had clearing last night - battle royal by the looks of the carnage this morning - my bees won. Plenty found their way into my jeep when I was loading up, so they're a bit lost now!

 

[TOBY-3652]

not many at all I have treated about 25 nests up to now..... don't know why there isn't many.. bees have done well so would of thought wasps would of done well

 

[pargyle]

Only seen the odd one or two around the apiary and any that got anywhere near any of the hives were seen off by the guard bees ... I think there's easier targets than the bees for the wasps around me at present. Had lots of them around the house last year and I'm pretty sure there must have been a nest somewhere but I couldn't find it .. nothing like it this year.

 

[beeno]

Hi guys,
There are a few about. Killed one European Hornet this morning and swatted another, but it got away.

 

[bontbee]

why' was it necessary to kill the hornet?

 

[Hachi]

Loads just north of the M4 near the R'way Pete.

 

[Marton]

Only ones I have seen are cleaning up the odd dead bee on the apiary base.


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[Jimmys Mum]

Seen hardly any wasps here in the last few weeks. Loads of a queen wasps in the spring, a handful around the hives in July but very few sighted since. I don't suppose we are quite out of the woods yet though!

 

[Karol]

Wasps are definitely still hunting. Filmed this wasp hunting at the weekend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDI1bcBkl4I

Wasp nests mature at different times from one year to the next. The earliest that they mature is about the third week in July. The latest that I have seen them mature is November. When a wasp nest matures there's no brood left in the nest and its the brood that feeds the adults with a sweet carbohydrate liquid. No brood = no carbohydrates = sweet feeding worker wasps.

There will be some geographical variation but we also see wasps sweet feeding where nests have been treated or destroyed. Hunting foragers will not enter their nests without permission from their sentries. When a nest is treated it's the sentries that are first to die which results in large numbers of foraging wasps being denied their carbohydrate food source from within their own nest. These foragers are then forced to sweet feed elsewhere which could be your hives. Wasp nest eradication during the hunting phase of the wasp life cycle can therefore actually precipitate sweet feeding wasps and raise the risk to hives from premature wasp attack.

 

[pargyle]

Wasps are definitely still hunting. Filmed this wasp hunting at the weekend:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZDI1bcBkl4I

Wasp nests mature at different times from one year to the next. The earliest that they mature is about the third week in July. The latest that I have seen them mature is November. When a wasp nest matures there's no brood left in the nest and its the brood that feeds the adults with a sweet carbohydrate liquid. No brood = no carbohydrates = sweet feeding worker wasps.

There will be some geographical variation but we also see wasps sweet feeding where nests have been treated or destroyed. Hunting foragers will not enter their nests without permission from their sentries. When a nest is treated it's the sentries that are first to die which results in large numbers of foraging wasps being denied their carbohydrate food source from within their own nest. These foragers are then forced to sweet feed elsewhere which could be your hives. Wasp nest eradication during the hunting phase of the wasp life cycle can therefore actually precipitate sweet feeding wasps and raise the risk to hives from premature wasp attack.

Your posts are always informative Karol and much appreciated ... I didn't know what you have just told us ... fascinating.

 

[Karol]

The more I have studied wasps the more I've come to learn how little we know about them. I would never have dreamed that nest eradication (done at the wrong time of year or in the wrong way) was so counter productive. Everything that I have come to learn about them is so counter intuitive - they are a real Jekyl and Hyde insect that is more valuable to us than we appreciate.

Take their scavenging behaviour taking dead honey bees from under hives. What would happen if they didn't clean up those dead bees? Quite simply they would become a bio hazard to the hive that could potentially cause illness within the hive.

 

[Dave /Oscroft]

Wasps

I've got them all, I've lost 3 hives, one was left totally stripped out!
Dave W

 

[peteinwilts]

The more I have studied wasps the more I've come to learn how little we know about them. I would never have dreamed that nest eradication (done at the wrong time of year or in the wrong way) was so counter productive. Everything that I have come to learn about them is so counter intuitive - they are a real Jekyl and Hyde insect that is more valuable to us than we appreciate.

Take their scavenging behaviour taking dead honey bees from under hives. What would happen if they didn't clean up those dead bees? Quite simply they would become a bio hazard to the hive that could potentially cause illness within the hive.

fully appreciate they are a valuable part of the eco system with pest control, although have never seen them take dead bees from under the hive. Lots of other creatures do that.

I think (around here at least), last year wasps were especially bad and were in epidemic proportions, not just to the bees, but at home and at work where there are no bees.
Sorry for you losses Dave. I know how truly disheartening it is to go down to the apiary's and wonder how many hives of bees you have left.

 

[Fatbee]

The fact that blows my mind taken from the waspbane website that Karol linked to awhile back is a wasp nest predating 4-5 tonnes of insects per year! There wouldn't be any plants around for bees to forage on if wasps were not around with this number of insects on the loose. Worth bearing in mind although probably no consolation if you're robbed out by them

 

[peteinwilts]

The fact that blows my mind taken from the waspbane website that Karol linked to awhile back is a wasp nest predating 4-5 tonnes of insects per year! There wouldn't be any plants around for bees to forage on if wasps were not around with this number of insects on the loose. Worth bearing in mind although probably no consolation if you're robbed out by them

I have to disagree. nature works via boom and bust.
If there were no wasps, something else would move in or increase to take their place.

Anyone remember the aphid problem in the mid-seventies (1976?) followed by the ladybird plague?

the number of predators will always be directly proportionate to the number of prey. If the prey has a bad year, so will the predators.
If that predator has a bad year, another predator will have a good year.

Nature, left to its own devices works itself out.
The lack of bees and pollinators worldwide is NOT because nature is failing. It is because we are modifying the environment which is tipping the balance.

 

[abm]

Maybe Karol can put together a training session aimed for beekeepers... ???

i've attended one of his training days and as a professional pesty since 2002, he learnt me things about wasps that were not covered by the RSPH diploma.

 

[Gilberdyke John]

The fact that blows my mind taken from the waspbane website that Karol linked to awhile back is a wasp nest predating 4-5 tonnes of insects per year! There wouldn't be any plants around for bees to forage on if wasps were not around with this number of insects on the loose. Worth bearing in mind although probably no consolation if you're robbed out by them

If there is that much material going into a nest where is the pile of excrement and debris going? Some will be taken away by fliers but surely not all.
Dare I suggest the figures may be wildly inaccurate?