BBKA Forum

I am amazed , I have already started seeing wasps pestering colonies.

At my old apiary site I was plagued by wasps every year, as it was a wasp nest hot spot. My new apiary is only half a mile away, but I'm hoping that with no 'nice, wasp suitable' bank directly opposite the hives it may not be such a problem. Time will tell.......

I've seen a few wasps about - nothing to worry about - not just yet anyway.

Caroline wrote: ↑

06 Jul 2019, 09:54

At my old apiary site I was plagued by wasps every year, as it was a wasp nest hot spot. My new apiary is only half a mile away, but I'm hoping that with no 'nice, wasp suitable' bank directly opposite the hives it may not be such a problem. Time will tell.......

Cure for wasp trouble is big fat strong hives....they will not gain entrance.
I know this isn't always possible, a friend of mine has designed a tunnel entrance that slips inside the gap into the hive that seems to do the job. Essentially it's a 6 inch deep piece of wood cut to the length of the entrance, that you slide all the way inside the hive....You then (with chisel/router/husband etc) gouge out an entrance about 1-2inches wide over the 6 inches. Means any wasps have a 6 inch journey to get into a beehive and weaker colonies of bees find this much easier to defend.
Some recommend=underfloor entrances but I've not seen this to work with weak hives..

Nigel, thanks for the tip re entrance modification.
Luckily my colonies are usually good and strong, and I have not had a problem with the wasps robbing (apart from some spare frames temporarily stored in spare kit!), and I operate on reduced entrances.

It's more that the constant bombardment of wasps is a real pain when opening hives for inspection.

I find making the emtrance much smaller with duct tape ie 1cm square. Works a treat. If wasps are a problem

I thwacked a hornet the other day,saw another on Tuesday and one was circling my head during an inspection on Wednesday.
None of the colonies seem to be affected so far
Are Euro hornets a big threat?
Danger aside they're magnificent creatures to look at (dead)

No they will hawk a few bees but as they are quite rare beasties savour. Or they are rare in my neck of the woods.

And we have a lot of small wasps on sweet feeding duty already. Not sure what to make of that.

NigelP wrote: ↑

12 Jul 2019, 22:07

And we have a lot of small wasps on sweet feeding duty already. Not sure what to make of that.

It's a sign that you need wasp traps out. It's gonna be a great year for wasps.

Ive got all colonies down to small entrances now with duct tape. The amount of wasps at my various apiaries is impressive