Wasps robbing Apideas

[Black Comb]

I've been away for 8 days and returned to find 2 Apideas with newly mated queens have been robbed out by wasps.
Any suggestions as to how to prevent?

[Jon]

Best thing is to close up and move them somewhere where wasps are less of problem.
I think wasps will be a real problem this year as numbers seem to be high already.

[Castor]

I've barely seen any in Glos.

Barely a one.

[Little_John]

Wasps really are a pain ...

Once they've learned where there's easy pickings, as Jon says, best to move 'em.

To prevent wasps from taking an interest in your hives - the first thing to do is to establish if there are any attractants that can be easily eliminated - such as fruit dropping from fruit trees and lying rotting on the ground. That sort of thing becomes a wasp magnet.

Wasp traps can easily be made from 2 litre plastic drinks bottles - by cutting off the tops leaving a couple of inches of parallel 'side' - then turning these tops upside down and ramming each into it's base. Without the screw tops of course :)

Cut a few V's around each top edge to give the wasps access, pour the liquid of your choice into the trap - Coca-Cola's good, as is orange juice or any kind of 'jam puree' - and then cover the trap with a rainproof tile or similar. How you mount these is up to you - the trick is to stop these bottles from being knocked over.

Now - this is the important bit - place the traps a good distance DOWNWIND of your hives. That's where the wasp scouts will be coming from, as they follow the scent plume. And you want them to find the traps long before they get anywhere near to your hives. And yes, that unfortunately means moving the traps if there's a significant shift in wind direction. It's no good placing the traps close to your hives, as some people do - that's like advertising to the wasps where your hives are to be found.

The whole idea of effective wasp trapping, is NOT to catch hundreds of wasps, but just their scouts. Judge your trap's effectiveness - not by the number of wasps you find in it, but by the number of wasps bothering your hives - which should hopefully now be near to zero.

LJ

[Castor]

Ahhhhhhhh Downwind...... V. useful insight, thank you!

[Black Comb]

Thanks all.
I hadn't seen any prior to to this.
Moved now, but too late for some.