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Thread: Wasp season 2017

  1. #1
    Senior Member busybeephilip's Avatar
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    Default Wasp season 2017

    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

  2. #2

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    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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  3. #3
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    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..

  4. #4

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    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!

  5. #5
    Senior Member fatshark's Avatar
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    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.

  6. #6

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    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

  7. #7
    Senior Member prakel's Avatar
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    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.

  8. #8

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    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!

  9. #9

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    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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  10. #10

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    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.

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