Wasps still attacking

[MuswellMetro]

went to the apiary this afternoon 7c and foggy, all the hives just ticking over with a few toilet flights

i noticed a wasp walk straight in through the mouseguard!!

14x12 hive still heavy 50lb on a spring balance

so waited and eventual after about ten minute i cuaght one of the wasps

checking on the web it is the german wasp Vespa Germanica, larger than the common wasp

Has anyone else still got wasps attacking, it been down to 0c over night and i would have though the wasp problem would be over, or are German wasps more hardy than the common wasp

i've close the entrance down but still one went in after i had done that, not a swarm of them just about 4 in ten minutes

 

[Dave /Oscroft]

Dam Wasps

Yes i'm still seeing wasps going in some of my hives, iv'e been plagued all year with them.
Dave W
(Chester area)

 

[paulgeoffrey]

Been harrased with them all summer! Still trying to get into my hives this afternoon. They must like the taste of my 'minty' honey!

 

[Dishmop]

Havent seen any really.. One yesterday on a bush.

 

[MJBee]

+17C today in sunny France - all hives were active. The European hornet seems to have gone but there were a lot of wasps and Asian hornets mooching about. The guard bees were very alert and repelling all entry attempts.

 

[Karol]

went to the apiary this afternoon 7c and foggy, all the hives just ticking over with a few toilet flights

i noticed a wasp walk straight in through the mouseguard!!

14x12 hive still heavy 50lb on a spring balance

so waited and eventual after about ten minute i cuaght one of the wasps

checking on the web it is the german wasp Vespa Germanica, larger than the common wasp

Has anyone else still got wasps attacking, it been down to 0c over night and i would have though the wasp problem would be over, or are German wasps more hardy than the common wasp

i've close the entrance down but still one went in after i had done that, not a swarm of them just about 4 in ten minutes

0°C is no problem to wasps. It's not the cold that kills wasps, it's the lack of food as winter sets in that generally knocks them off. Now that the ivy is coming to an end, there is likely to be a final burst of wasp activity as bee hives become the last remaining food source available to them.

It may not be a swarm but 4 wasps per 10 minutes may quickly turn into a problem. It depends very much as to whether these scouting wasps get to the food stores or whether they are prevented from doing so within the hive. If they get to the food store and then make it back to their own nests, then these wasps will recruit more wasps to your hive. I suggest that you monitor carefully to ensure it doesn't suddenly flare into a wasp swarm feeding frenzy! If the colony is strong then it should prevent the scouting wasps from getting access to the food stores within the hive. If the colony is weakened for any reason you may have to take precautionary measures.

 

[theboynelson]

I also have been tormented by wasps, I have put on a mouse guard, reduced the entrance to approx 1 bee space & yet the bligjters are still coming in and out with impunity.

When you say take precautions against the wasps, what do youean exactly?

 

[Into the lions den]

Have spent all summer rather bemused by the regular flow of 'lack of wasps' posts.

Struck me as a bit like the regular 'there are a lot of dandelions this year' type things that rattle around. Someone says it in a prominent place, and people quickly think, 'thats right' and comment in support..................and it all has little basis in fact.

We have seen just as many wasps as ever this year, in spite of bumping off record numbers of queens dormant under hive roofs, and as many as four or five in boxes of empty frames stacked outside, at the end of winter 11/12.

There are several species going around (I do not know them by name, just see the differences) and they are still hanging about today, albeit now in sharply reduced numbers.

Would say it had actually been a normal or near normal year for wasps here. Not a massive wasp year but not a deep minimum either.

 

[beeno]

Hi all,
Yep, wasps still hanging around the hives in greater numbers than all summer. Killed a queen wasp in the house last night, so I shall add that to next seasons tally! On a chilly day I saw wasps on the Ivy no bees. So they don't just rob then.

 

[Karol]

Have spent all summer rather bemused by the regular flow of 'lack of wasps' posts.

Struck me as a bit like the regular 'there are a lot of dandelions this year' type things that rattle around. Someone says it in a prominent place, and people quickly think, 'thats right' and comment in support..................and it all has little basis in fact.

We have seen just as many wasps as ever this year, in spite of bumping off record numbers of queens dormant under hive roofs, and as many as four or five in boxes of empty frames stacked outside, at the end of winter 11/12.

There are several species going around (I do not know them by name, just see the differences) and they are still hanging about today, albeit now in sharply reduced numbers.

Would say it had actually been a normal or near normal year for wasps here. Not a massive wasp year but not a deep minimum either.

Save that we work with thousands of pest controllers each year and they all report without exception that wasp nest treatments are down by around 90% compared to last year. We also work with most of the major theme parks and zoos which we constantly monitor and they also all report a significant reduction in wasp activity this year. This is on top of our own monitoring stations which pretty much confirm all of these other findings.

 

[OXFORDBEE]

Must say that there were queen wasps under hive roofs in early June this year. The poor weather appears to have prevented them founding colonies early in the season....

 

[alanf]

Would say it had actually been a normal or near normal year for wasps here. Not a massive wasp year but not a deep minimum either.

Fair enough, most of us can only report what we see locally. Around here, back in March there was a noticeable number of queens around, more obvious than previous years. Then the weather turned and over the summer there were very few wasps. Only in October did they start appearing in numbers, and they're still about. Previous years build up through July and august seems to have been delayed. What apples there were, and some varieties did far better than others, had less wasp damage.

That might be a local effect around the outskirts of London. It might be only the South and East that had the dry winter and relatively cool wet spring. It could be patly a change in observation habits as many have been outside for shorter periods. Whatever, the wasp population appears to be back and close to normal levels. Far from seeing that as a problem, I think it's an indication that despite the unusual conditions, much of the wildlife is more resiliant than some appear to fear.

 

[Nic Rhodes]

exceptionally low numbers of wasps here this year, outside of the wasps in my daughter bed room (unexplained), the number I have seen could be counted on one hand!

 

[Into the lions den]

Save that we work with thousands of pest controllers each year and they all report without exception that wasp nest treatments are down by around 90% compared to last year. We also work with most of the major theme parks and zoos which we constantly monitor and they also all report a significant reduction in wasp activity this year. This is on top of our own monitoring stations which pretty much confirm all of these other findings.

Yes, I have seen you report this before. Guess it just, once again, shows all is local. Its very strange too, as our area has had some of the worst of the UK summer, two years running now.

Even this morning we have dozens of them hanging aroud our wax melting tank outside, and couple of monts ago they were diving in in their thousands and ending up as a layer on top of the molten wax. (Not a problem as it all gets filtered out anyway) Finding a lot of queens going into hibernation mode already.

 

[Karol]

Yes, I have seen you report this before. Guess it just, once again, shows all is local. Its very strange too, as our area has had some of the worst of the UK summer, two years running now.

Topography and natural habitat play a big part. Germanica are predominently (not exclusively) low level nesters (in the ground and rockeries etc) and so are adversely affected by standing water and floods. So in places like East Anglia and the midlands they get hit quite hard by incessant wet weather. Vulgaris (and Medians) are predominantly high level nesters and do better in wet weather but suffer more when we have heat waves (get cooked out in attic spaces).

So, if you have woodland or live in a mountainous/hilly region with little standing water, then the wasps in your region are more likely to fair better.

[/quote] Even this morning we have dozens of them hanging aroud our wax melting tank outside, and couple of monts ago they were diving in in their thousands and ending up as a layer on top of the molten wax. (Not a problem as it all gets filtered out anyway) Finding a lot of queens going into hibernation mode already.[/QUOTE]

Gauging wasp populations is not so easy because there are a lot of factors at play. The number of colonies is not necessarily related to the number of individual wasps. So for example, you can have comparatively few wasps and yet have lots of colonies. This tends to happen when wasp nest development is retarded by adverse weather conditions. Similarily, you can have relatively few colonies with each colony being a super colony. This happens when for example there is trauma in a region which is then re-colonized and there is an abundance of insect food which delays nest maturation (normally during warm summers interdispersed with regular rainfall). The difference in nest size can be staggering. The average nest holds up to 5,000 workers at maturation (Germanica and Vulgaris) but can build to 20,000 - 30,000 quite easily (in the UK). There can be as many as 1000 wasp nests per square mile so it's easy to see why it is so difficult to assess populations. Incidently the largest nests reportedly have in excess of 1,000,000 individuals (this is in Australia where the life cycle has extended to 2 years) and measure up to 7 meters in height.

 

[Into the lions den]

Biggest one I ever saw locally was in the attic of a house, and filled the space between two sets of eaves and rafters, the back surface of it was about four feet tall and flat, long long past the stage of the classic ball shaped nest.

This year there have been many nests, as you suggest of small size, probably hampered by it raining almost every day from late May till late July.

 

[paulgeoffrey]

When are these little beggers going to die off!
7 degrees and sunny here this lunch time. Noticed wasps attacking a hive close to my workshop. About 15 to 20 of them trying to get into the hive, the bees were putting up a good defence considering they should have been in a cluster. I reduced the opening to a couple of bee spaces then went through the wood to check my apiary. All 10 hives being attacked by the damn things and there didn't appear to be much of a defence here from the girls. Reduced all the entrances but apart from that I'm at a loss of what to do next.
Any ideas?

Paul

 

[Dishmop]

Lay in wait with a big can of anything that will kill them? and a table tennis bat.

 

[Cazza]

When are these little beggers going to die off!
7 degrees and sunny here this lunch time. Noticed wasps attacking a hive close to my workshop. About 15 to 20 of them trying to get into the hive, the bees were putting up a good defence considering they should have been in a cluster. I reduced the opening to a couple of bee spaces then went through the wood to check my apiary. All 10 hives being attacked by the damn things and there didn't appear to be much of a defence here from the girls. Reduced all the entrances but apart from that I'm at a loss of what to do next.
Any ideas?

Paul

Wait a day or two?
Forecast is for cold and frost. Should do the job.
Cazza

 

[Karol]

Wait a day or two?
Forecast is for cold and frost. Should do the job.
Cazza

Sorry Cazza, that's a common misconception. It's the lack of food that wipes out wasp colonies, not the cold or frost. We've had reports of wasps continuing to raid bee hives right up until the end of January, i.e. well after some very significant frosts.