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dlawr42103 said:
So what is a 'High Efficiency' trap?
Click to expand...

This thread has me reading the archives and there is an amazing set of posts about wasps and their behavior by Karol here.
http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=5818&highlight=wasp+trap

I bought one on the strength of it to try out one if nothing else.

Also discovered a new wasps nest in corner of house tonight, although they aren't anywhere my bees at the moment as I have young kids they will be getting the chop tomorrow the old fashioned way.
 
Today, I destroyed one of the biggest wasp nests I have ever seen while I have been a pest control officer. It was in the loft space of my clients house and it was about the size of 4 rugby balls.
 
wasp's nest

I'm glad you lot are talking about wasp's,as I'm looking at my first hive tomorrow and almost forgot theres a wasp nest 50yrds away from where my hive will be.whats the best way to get rid of them?advise please
 
On a farm? Is that the only one?

A strong colony should not have any trouble with a few wasps in the vicinity. If not strong, there may be plenty of other wasp nests close enough to kill off your weak colony.
 
Wasps will fly 5km for a meal (I think that's right, I may be underestimating) so the number of wasp nests in a 5K radius of your hives will number in their thousands so there is not much point is there?
Keep the entrances strong, don't faff around during inspections, be quick and don't spill honey and keep your entrances strong. Have a look at wasp bane's wasp IPM
 
As 'Swarm' says, underfloor entrance or Dartington floor is the way to go. I've found that not only do they allow the bees to better defend against wasps, but they don't see you coming either (useful if you have a feisty colony). no need for a mouse guard later either.
 
ferret said:
I'm glad you lot are talking about wasp's,as I'm looking at my first hive tomorrow and almost forgot theres a wasp nest 50yrds away from where my hive will be.whats the best way to get rid of them?advise please// petrol in the hole or wasp nest destroyer..{ the powder type}then next day block the hole up
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Swarm said:
Under floor entrance. Wasps don't like them, easier for the girls to defend.
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Spent an amusing hour some years ago watching wasp behaviour at my under floor entrances - that year - due to a shortage of kit (no, honestly - but I've grown up since then and always ensure I have plenty :D) I had one hive from an A/s on a conventional solid floor with a reduced entrance next to a hive with an underfloor entrance wasps were constantly trying to enter the conventionally floored hive giving the guard bees a real hard time but the underfloor hive (the weakest of the two) with a ful length entrance was hardly bothered - the occasional wasp would attempt ot enter and be promptly chucked out but usually they would just hover at a distance then turn away
 
I was planning on making a few traps today.
 
jenkinsbrynmair said:
Spent an amusing hour some years ago watching wasp behaviour at my under floor entrances - that year - due to a shortage of kit (no, honestly - but I've grown up since then and always ensure I have plenty :D) I had one hive from an A/s on a conventional solid floor with a reduced entrance next to a hive with an underfloor entrance wasps were constantly trying to enter the conventionally floored hive giving the guard bees a real hard time but the underfloor hive (the weakest of the two) with a ful length entrance was hardly bothered - the occasional wasp would attempt ot enter and be promptly chucked out but usually they would just hover at a distance then turn away
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Thank you for this Jenkinsbrynmair. I have added your recommendation to our IWM page for beekeepers. Still a fair ways to go but every little bit helps.

Cheers.
 
Just to give a bit of a heads up. Wasps are still in their hunting phase so not much of a bother at the moment. However, I am getting lots of reports of very large wasp colonies this year - we are in daily contact with a sizeable population of pest controllers. This ties in with expectations were wasp colony size is related to weather, i.e. warm wet weather results in lush vegetation which supports more grazing insects which in turn supports larger wasp colonies. When wasp colonies do eventually switch to sweet feeding it may pay to be just a little more vigilant this year because swarm feeding is likely to come on much quicker where there are larger nests with more worker wasps.
 
Karol said:
Just to give a bit of a heads up. Wasps are still in their hunting phase so not much of a bother at the moment. However, I am getting lots of reports of very large wasp colonies this year - we are in daily contact with a sizeable population of pest controllers. This ties in with expectations were wasp colony size is related to weather, i.e. warm wet weather results in lush vegetation which supports more grazing insects which in turn supports larger wasp colonies. When wasp colonies do eventually switch to sweet feeding it may pay to be just a little more vigilant this year because swarm feeding is likely to come on much quicker where there are larger nests with more worker wasps.
Click to expand...

There are a LOT of wasps this year, particularly compared to last year, Karol.
 
psafloyd said:
There are a LOT of wasps this year, particularly compared to last year, Karol.
Click to expand...

Thanks psafloyd. I appreciate that but they still haven't converted to sweet feeding yet which is when wasps represent the greatest challenge to honeybees. Just to be specific on this issue. Locally there may be small clusters of sweet feeding wasps where wasp nests have been treated and the treatment has created a small population of sweet feeding wasps. This is not however representative of the general picture of where wasps are in their life cycle. We are starting to get reports of sexual progeny in nests being treated by pest controllers so it may only be a couple of weeks before the onslaught begins proper.
 
Population seems to have exploded here in the last week.
 
We have a very large wasp nest just in our neighbour's garden.

I'll send the badgers in.
 
rockdoc said:
As 'Swarm' says, underfloor entrance or Dartington floor is the way to go. I've found that not only do they allow the bees to better defend against wasps, but they don't see you coming either (useful if you have a feisty colony). no need for a mouse guard later either.
Click to expand...

2 of my hives are Poly from Bee H.ve Su..lies and it was after your comments about underfloor that I forgot that they are in fact bottom up so this morning went out to have a look and sure enough the one wasp that came for a look wasn't interested unlike the Pa..s poly hive beside it, and on reflection I have never had a wasp issue with these hives :thanks:
 
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