My eco solution to rat problems

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Hi all,

 

As many of you know I took on a hive with a nuc a couple of months ago, and they have been doing quite well, breeding and producing honey which I haven't extracted as I'm leaving it for the bees over the winter......however.........don't you know there's always a however .....we now have a big wasp problem

 

I've reduced the entrance to quite small with an entrance block..........it causes a traffic jam when more than 10 bees decide to return to the hive at any one time.........and put 2 wasp traps under the landing but still we are inundated with the blasted yellow jacketed creatures

 

I feel I can't open the hive to check what if any damage they have done inside as I'd just be calling every wasp in the county & risking the bees even more.....over the weekend they were kicking the jaspers out quite forcefully but this morning they don't seem to be doing so, though I only watched for a few minutes before coming on here to ask advice.....I'll put my jacket on & go out to check for a while longer once I've finished typing.

 

Am I going to lose my bees or can I do anything else to help them, I feel so helpless and want to do more but am at a loss as to what I can do.

 

Many thanks,

 

Sha x

[Chook n Boo Mum]

I've bitten the bullet and lifted the roof & on top of the glass quilt there were about 6 wasps, which I've dispatched and lots of bees around the top of the frames...I only saw one wasp around the frames.....................next move please

 

Sha x

[Olly]

Sorry, all I can recommend is a wasp trap, but if it's any consolation, I had a panic when I saw wasps hanging around after I'd put a feed on my hive. In fact, they were hanging around the outside because they couldn't get in - sounds as if your bees are managing to fend them off.

 

If you know there's an actual wasps nest around, then I'd take steps to destroy it (not something to be undertaken lightly, needless to say). Other than that I think the good old jam-jar or plastic bottle with the neck cut off and inverted is the best answer, and apparently (not sure if I read it on here or on the BBKA forum) adding alcohol or vinegar will put the bees off, but still attracts the wasps.

[pdcambs]

Hi Sha

 

 

Both robbing by other bees and wasp attack are hard to stop once it has started.

 

You've done the right thing in reducing entrances, although it sounds to me like they could be reduced even more. Once a colony gives up defending against wasps your only hope IMHO is to move the hive, reduce the entrance to one or two bee spaces and maybe feed.

 

Ideally move it 3 miles or more, but if the alternative is leave it where it is because you don't have an alternative site lined up (always a good idea to have in place incase a garden hive turns nasty) then move it as far round the garden as you can in the evening and stuff the entrance with fresh grass and put something like a garden chair directly in front of the entrance. Then in it's place set up as many wasp traps as you can. The grass will keep the bees in for a day or so and when it wilts and they emerge the chair will hopefully encourage them to reorientate.

 

In the case of robbing by other bees (I know you are suffering from wasps but the information is still useful) you'll need to put an empty hive in the place of the one you move, with one frame of stores for the robbers to keep going at. Once that frame of stores is finished the robbing comes to a natural end. If you move the hive without replacing it with a dummy victim, the robbers will simply seek out their victim (or another) and you'll still have the problem.

 

 

Unfortunately, in my experience, one the bees give up the defense against wasps, it's already too late to save them. This is another good reason to have more than one hive and IMO loosing weak colonies late in the season is good natural selection. So far this year I've lost one hive and one nuc (small 5 framed hive) to wasps from 28 colonies in out apiaries when like others I was caught out without reduced entrances; in part because the last couple of years have seen so few wasps about in the autumn.

 

 

 

Good luck

 

 

Peter

Cambridge UK

[pdcambs]

I had a panic when I saw wasps hanging around after I'd put a feed on my hive. In fact, they were hanging around the outside because they couldn't get in.

 

Wasps will mill around on the top or side of your hive, then keep dashing round toward the entrance to try to get in, once in the bees don't challenge them. It might be worth watching them for a while to make sure that is not what they are up to. Either way, all hives should have reduced entrances at the moment.

 

 

Other than that I think the good old jam-jar or plastic bottle with the neck cut off and inverted is the best answer, and apparently (not sure if I read it on here or on the BBKA forum) adding alcohol or vinegar will put the bees off, but still attracts the wasps.

 

Good advice from the BBKA site there, I also add a little washing up liquid to my waps bait liquid and check traps every couple of days as they can fill up fast.

[Chook n Boo Mum]

Thanks Olly & Peter, I'm off to replenish the wasp traps...well add some more actually ! I'll also try & slip a bundle of grass into the entrance so it's smaller still.......and sit out there & for a while

 

I had previously stuffed the entrance with bundles of grass, but they'd either been blown or shoved out having dehydrated to a degree I suppose, that's why I got the entrance block to make a more secure barrier & padded the top and side (it wasn't a great fit ) with electric wire and another piece of plastic scavenged from my DH's workshop.....Heath Robinson eat your heart out!!

 

Sha x

[pdcambs]

 

I had previously stuffed the entrance with bundles of grass, but they'd either been blown or shoved out having dehydrated to a degree I suppose, that's why I got the entrance block to make a more secure barrier & padded the top and side (it wasn't a great fit ) with electric wire and another piece of plastic scavenged from my DH's workshop.....Heath Robinson eat your heart out!!

 

Sha x

 

I find gaffa tape invaluable for on the fly repairs and then epoxy putty for a more permanent fix.

[Chook n Boo Mum]

I did suggest duck/duct tape but DH was worried the bees might stick to it...bless him thinking of my little buzzers !!

 

I now have a "guard" of 4 wasp traps around the entrance and watched one go to it's death in old beer whilst I was there.........I've come in for my camera so I can take a video........it's quite fascinating watching the way they all interact.........I've also seen several wasps "turned away" at the door, some with a great deal of force too...I would not like to be a wasp on a robbing mission with a peeved bee on entrance duty

 

What does it mean when a bee stops on the entrance board with her rear end in the air......she's tripped many of the incoming and outgoing bees up with her silly position

 

Sha x

[pdcambs]

I did suggest duck/duct tape but DH was worried the bees might stick to it...bless him thinking of my little buzzers !!

 

 

What does it mean when a bee stops on the entrance board with her rear end in the air......she's tripped many of the incoming and outgoing bees up with her silly position

 

Sha x

 

I don't find bees get stuck to gaffa tape, there is probably something in the glue they don't like, I mostly use it to block up small holes or just to briefly close entrances while I'm moving hives. To my knowledge neither use is detrimental to the bees to any great extent.

 

Bees outside the entrance with their bums in the air and fanning their wings are usually distributing a pheromone from their Nasanov Gland, which signals "this is home", amongst other things. You can usually see the slit in underneath of their abdomen between a couple of the rear segments where the nasanov gland is situated. (google nasanov for photos might throw up an image or two?)