Queen wasps

[Jimmys Mum]

What the heck is going on......!?

Ok, so I am still in bed, (but it is Mother's Day) and whilst lazing here with coffee and Sunday papers so far I've had 8 blimmin queen wasps come in through the bedroom window in the last hour and a half!

I've seen one or two out and about this week but this doesn't bode well for autumn!

On the up side, 8 less wasps nests to worry about this summer

 

[Bee Bumble]

We have had a lot this Spring too.

 

[TOBY-3652]

thats good news to me... looks like i could be busy

 

[Jimmys Mum]

......ten now but the last one got away, darn it!

My bedroom window must look very inviting ....in a waspy kind of way!

 

[Sean.]

I've seen a few and it brings about a certain rage, that you just can't help when they are in the garden near your hives. Is my maximum so far, that was a few years ago.

 

[Nige.Coll]

had one in the conservatory yesterday afternoon.
unfortunately it didn't survive the visit.

 

[Cazza]

I've seen a few and it brings about a certain rage, that you just can't help when they are in the garden near your hives. .

What is the matter with you lot?
I gave up queen wasp destruction a few years ago. It really isn't necessary.
Cazza

 

[beeno]

Good on you Jimmys mum, keep going Mothers day or not! My score sheet is only up to one this year and that was my husband's kill. Usually it is about 12, so my turn will come.

 

[TOBY-3652]

What is the matter with you lot?
I gave up queen wasp destruction a few years ago. It really isn't necessary.
Cazza[/QUOTE

exacly my thinking////// i have got to make a living.. wait till there big nests, then i can destroy the lot, and charge for th

 

[Gilberdyke John]

What the heck is going on......!?

Ok, so I am still in bed, (but it is Mother's Day) and whilst lazing here with coffee and Sunday papers so far I've had 8 blimmin queen wasps come in through the bedroom window in the last hour and a half!

I've seen one or two out and about this week but this doesn't bode well for autumn!

On the up side, 8 less wasps nests to worry about this summer

That's the way to do it!

 

[Erichalfbee]

What is the matter with you lot?
I gave up queen wasp destruction a few years ago. It really isn't necessary.
Cazza

Absolutely agree.


Last year was quite a bad year but the strong colonies coped well enough with Karol's wasp traps deployed in timely fashion and a reduced entrance.

I spotted an enormous queen wasp on a wooden fence today, she was rasping away at it and I watched her in the morning sunshine....a wonder to behold

 

[Gilberdyke John]

What is the matter with you lot?
I gave up queen wasp destruction a few years ago. It really isn't necessary.
Cazza

Necessary or not it's immensely satisfying to turn them into two dimensional creatures.

 

[Cazza]

Necessary or not it's immensely satisfying to turn them into two dimensional creatures.

I counted 8 queens buzzing around a crab apple and 3 around laurel this afternoon. Must be collecting something for nesting.

My feelings about wasps and bees is that if the beekeeper is careful with feeding syrup and is ready with reduced entrances and care, wasps will not decimate a decent hive.
When I was a non interventionist beekeeper, wasps were never, ever a problem. I think it's largely our fault for opening up and messing about too much.
Cazza

 

[Putnamsmif]

Probably been said before, and I can understand why people squish them, but without wasps there wouldn't be no bees! Which would be a shame.

 

[TOBY-3652]

I counted 8 queens buzzing around a crab apple and 3 around laurel this afternoon. Must be collecting something for nesting.

My feelings about wasps and bees is that if the beekeeper is careful with feeding syrup and is ready with reduced entrances and care, wasps will not decimate a decent hive.
When I was a non interventionist beekeeper, wasps were never, ever a problem. I think it's largely our fault for opening up and messing about too much.
Cazza

easier to just squash the queens and powder the nests.. job done bumble bees too iff there a problem

 

[Tom Bick]

I disturbed this lovely lady from her long sleep the other day when I went through some of my spare kit. Thankfully she was not hurt and after a few mins wiping the sleep from her eyes she flew off. It was a nice moment to stand and watch her close by. I would not want a wasp nest within a short distance of my hives, but apart from that wonderful insects and my bees are more than a match to them.

 

[Karol]

I think it is quite sad when beekeepers who profess to be 'close to nature' go about killing queen wasps with what appears to be very little care for the environment around them.

Reducing wasp populations by killing queens prematurely results in higher pest populations which results in higher pesticide consumption with threatens honeybees on a grander scale than the odd seasonal wasp attack on a hive.

 

[Jimmys Mum]

Oops I feel suitably chastised for starting this thread. I was just astonished at how many kept coming in through the bedroom window. If I'd seen them in the garden then fair enough, live and let live, but in my defence I figured they were probably looking for nesting sites and I really didn't want them in my roof or eaves or bedroom come to that.

My hives and I really suffered wasps last summer despite high efficiency wasp trap deployment. There were several wasp nest in neighbours roofs. I kind of figured (maybe wrongly) that it was better to remove the queens now rather than have the need to call out pest controllers later in the summer to destroy whole colonies?

Educate me Karol, what do you mean by higher pest populations?

 

[Tomo]

Dare I ask...what colour are your PJ's? Surely not black and yellow..........?

 

[Jimmys Mum]

Dare I ask...what colour are your PJ's? Surely not black and yellow..........?

Think the attraction was probably more down to a nice warm south facing roof outside the window!