Wasp season 2017

[busybeephilip]

Already the wasps are out and about. My mating hives are now being probed by wasps seeking out the weaker boxes - time to get the wasp traps set up

[The Drone Ranger]

Yes seen a few nosing around
a good trap is a honey jar with a large cross cut in the lid then the centre pushed in slightly
The bait is raspberry jam about 10% of the jar then fill half full with water
A quick stir to dissolve the jam into the water
Bees have no interest in the traps so they are safe
Wasps go in but they cant fly out and drown


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[madasafish]

We have an old tree stump - now rotten - within 2 meters of one hive. The local badgers excavated it earlier this year for grubs and there is a large wasps nest in evidence. Yes, the hives see the odd wasps, but if I were to trap it would be 100 meters away from the hives otherwise they just attract wasps!

A pest controller on another site suggests a local nest keeps local territory for itself but forages elsewhere so don't destroy it..

The badgers will. They did that last year with another - and the year before that and.... (A very big badger sett is within 0.5miles away across teh fileds - near an old cemetery..

[The Poot]

Have you ever lost a STRONG colony to wasps or are small colonies, nucs etc the only ones at risk?
Last year I had a failing colony finished off by wasps but the strong colony next to it was ok - I didn't see any attacks attempted on it.
I have a colony from a swarm captured in June in a poly nuc with an additional brood box - 12 frames, of which the top 6 are wall to wall brood and food, whilst the bottom 6 are being drawn out. A wasp casually entered yesterday and was ignored by the bees at the entrance. I didn't see it come out again but I'm a little fearful that it may have done and told its mates back at the nest.
Got to be vigilant this year as the Asian hornet was found in Gloucestershire last September - not far away from here!

[fatshark]

I was talking with Wally Shaw a couple of months ago and he's convinced that wasps don't harm strong colonies, but do finish off colonies weakened by robbing by other bees.

[The Drone Ranger]

If you have several mini nucs one may well fail
If wasps find that they soon come and can build up to large numbers while they take any stores /fondant etc
Once there is nothing left they will move on mass to the next mininuc and harrass it often till it collapses as well
So it can be a domino effect
If you put your wasp trap where the first mininuc was then you kill lots of the blighters who have learned the location
The idea of a wasp trap is to trap and kill the pests not to attract them but in other circumstances as madasafish says it might be better near the wasp nest
I found lots of wasp bikes while they were still small earlier in the year
As was suggested in the wasp keeping thread (a few years back) I put my foot on them :)

[prakel]

Personally, I think that the 'attitude' of the colony is very important. I'm personally convinced that there are some colonies which are simply just more unified /determined to survive than others irrespective of size. It's hard to explain but some of them just won't take the nonsense, this is important when the first wasps start to investigate possible targets.

Can they assess whether the effort to overcome a small colony will outweigh the benefits? I reckon that they probably can which would then go some way to explaining why we sometimes see larger colonies falling to the wasps while small ones in the same apiary remain unmolested.

[The Poot]

That's an interesting insight Prakel, one I tend to agree with, as I've observed differing reactions to wasps at the hive entrance. I'm hoping the lack of aggression at the entrance I saw yesterday, turned into a "ball" once the wasp was deep inside!

[RDMW]

My waspbane arrived today. Looks impressive. Instructions say to bait with lager and honey or blended over ripe fruit and honey. I am worried about the idea of putting honey on and will email the makers to ask


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[The Poot]

Apparently, full sugar Ribena heated to add lots more sugar is a good bait. An article in BBKA news mentioned it for Asian Hornet attractant. I'd definitely steer clear of honey. Just found a European Hornet nest in a bird box in my apiary - don't want to kill them but they're also close to the house and a worried Mrs! They're impressive insects, but I won't like it if they hawk my bees.

[Jambo]

A few nosing around my nuc this morning. Bees seem to be keeping them out successfully - saw one ball one away from the entrance but they both rolled under the nuc so didn't see what happened next!

Is there an accepted wisdom on who wins in a one bee vs one wasp contest?

[The Poot]

Had to "deal with" a hornet nest just across the garden from my hives - couldn't risk it becoming a big problem. Really sad to do it as I think they're impressive beasties.

[Mellifera Crofter]

Had to "deal with" a hornet nest just across the garden from my hives - couldn't risk it becoming a big problem. Really sad to do it as I think they're impressive beasties.I think this must be The Year of the Wasp. I have to keep turfing them out of the house - my house, not so much the bees' hives. Well, they try to dive in there as well, but I think the bees keep them out.
Kitta

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[fatshark]

Weird ... I've barely seen any this year. They're usually all over my stacks of supers and brood trying to get in by this time of year.

[Mellifera Crofter]

I was wrong about my bees fending off the wasps. I've just returned from an out-apiary where I can't keep such a close eye on the colonies' well-being and found a small nucleus colony completely devastated by the wasps. I think about ten bees survived the attack.

It's upsetting and it's my fault. I upgraded their hive from a home-made plywood nucleus to an expensive Thornes Everynuc 2, and I forgot to reduce the entrance with foam. Lovely nucleus, but that entrance is one of its shortcomings.

I think all your wasps, Fatshark, must have migrated north to Aberdeenshire. I've just had a look under the microscope at one of the wasps that died with the bees - ferocious fangs they have on their mandibles! Poor bees ...

Kitta

[fatshark]

I don't think our wasps have moved North.
I think they've all drowned here.

The entrance to the Everynuc is bigger than the entrance to most of my full colonies by area. Daft. I usually use an L-shaped piece of spare Varroa mesh pinned in place to reduce it to 2cm wide.

[Mellifera Crofter]

... The entrance to the Everynuc is bigger than the entrance to most of my full colonies by area. Daft. I usually use an L-shaped piece of spare Varroa mesh pinned in place to reduce it to 2cm wide.

Oh, yes - I now remember your post on your website. I've immediately reduced the other colonies' entrances with foam, but it's such an ugly solution for a neat-looking hive. The box is moulded as though it's meant to take a solid entrance block. I'll either follow your example, or perhaps make a wooden entrance block.

Kitta

[mbc]

I have three thornes poly nat nucs which have too much space either side and an overly wide entrance, this has been fixed by glueing a sheet of 10mm correx either side and cutting a narrow entrance for the entrance side.
I'm now erring towards the maisemore polynuc as being the best offering I've come across simply because it's good to go out of the box, I had ten delivered this morning and already three are occupied with bees.

[Adam]

My home apiary is buzzing with wasps and I had to move a small nuc to the office for safety as wasps had started to go in and out freely. Colonies at home are keeping the wasps at bay for the moment. small nucs have small entrances.
My main out apiary is only 500 metres away and wasps are not nearly so plentiful.

mbc, my Thornes poly nuc too has wrong spaces inside (!) and a slot entrance - a bit of gaffa tape part-way across the entrance does the trick although it is not elegant! I have not used the Maisies polynucs. I was told that there is no space above the top bars so bees get crushed - is this the case?

[Mellifera Crofter]

... I have not used the Maisies polynucs. I was told that there is no space above the top bars so bees get crushed - is this the case?

Yes, they do get crushed - also with the Paynes poly nucs. I've sliced off the lug rises in the Maisiemore poly nucs which helps a bit, but crushing bees is still a problem - particularly when adding a feeder. I now prefer Everynuc (not the same as Thornes poly nuc). The inside space for Everynuc is just slightly too narrow for six frames - but great for five frames and a dummy.

Kitta

[The Drone Ranger]

Regards the Maisemore polynucs
I used loads of them last year and the built in feeder is a big saving over buying a separate one

The second broodbox is reasonably priced for overwintering
Even painted though the poly feeder is munched by wasps at this time of year (same with Paynes )

You can get more of them in the car for deliveries (no side feeder)
I haven't switched over from Paynes Nucs only because I have a lot of upper boxes and feeders

The little lip that acts as a frame rail makes life easier than a bee squashing flat area
Plus there is no big wide bee squashing inner rib to contend with when using the second box
Also no thin plastic crown board to chase down the field

The feeder converts for fondant feeding and is extra insulation in Winter
If you leave it on in Winter it give an ideal space for water vapour to condense and stay in the feeder away from the bees

The entrance disk is sturdier and comes in a range of colours to stop drifting

The recessed mesh (same as Paynes) needs covering when collecting swarms because bees hang there trying to get in

I like them a lot

[Adam]

Thanks for the info. My one Thornes nuc (not everynuc) is a bit odd in that it was obviously designed for bigger frames and then polystyrene inserts put in to close down the space. However, in my one at least, the bees space is wrong so comb is drawn on the outside of the frame side-bars. It is also a bugger to get apart as the bee space is too big above the top bars so lots of comb is built there and the consequence is that the box is damaged when the lid or feeder is removed as it is stuck down by comb; especially after winter. I certainly prefer the top feeder compared to the Paynes which I cut out many years ago. The 8 frame Paynes conversion works well; it's a good size for overwintereing.

[mbc]

The recessed mesh (same as Paynes) needs covering when collecting swarms because bees hang there trying to get in

I like them a lot[/QUOTE]

Yes! I use the thin correx used for rabbit hutch floors, a piece cut slightly too big is perfect to push fit on (or off for travelling ). I don't get why the mesh area is so big on them and covering them up makes the nucs far more useful especially when making up small nucs early in the season, with the mesh covered a one frame of brood nuc is quite possible with a few bees shaken in to bolster them.