Subject: Re: European Wasps & Bees

From: [email-masked] (David J Trickett)
Date: 9 May 1996 07:10:25 GMT

Michael Clark ([email-masked]) wrote:

: - What effect do the wasps have on bee hives. I  have noticed  the
: wasps attacking live bees. Do I need to worry?

Later in the year (mid-summer) at my sites, yellow jackets area also a 
problem.  If the hive is strong they may make it in, but usually get 
carried out dead or maimed.  If the hive is weak and there is no entrance 
reducer they can make it in and forage at will.  (E.g., hives succumbing 
>from  varroa last Sept.)  THey also go after incoming foragers and if 
successful in knocking them down and grappling them, will usually be able 
to dismember them and carry off the pieces (usually they are assisted by 
other yellowjackets).  Once the guards are alerted, it will often be the 
guards that end up getting eaten (though they seem to have a better rate 
of survival - probably because they are already alert and aggressive as 
opposed to loaded down and intent on landing.  Drones are also at high 
risk.  During the massacre of the drones, I'd say those driven out have a 
halflife of 10 minutes or less due to wasp predation. 

WIll it hurt the hive?  Well.... I don't really think it's doing much 
damage to the strong hives and the weak ones are usually already on their 
way out anyway.  One could argue it's similar to the wax moth issue: they 
don't initiate the demise of a hive, but are symptomatic of it.  I'm sure 
someone out there has had hives decimated or worse by YJs, but here, even 
with large numbers of them (see below), I'd say they're more of a 
nuisance than anything.  They will tend to keep your bees in a more 
agitated (read: cranky) state though.  

: -  I tried to set up a trap to catch the wasps but it didn't work.
: Maybe I used the wrong bait. Any ideas?

I use traps made of 1 liter soda bottles.  (Basic funnel design).  Use 
protein as a bait and soapy water to drwon them in.  I was catching over 
a hundred per day at a site with only 4 hives.  Then, last year I decided 
to try feeding them instead.  I just set up a pail feeder 20 ft from the 
bees and let the YJs go to it (sugar water).  THe bees were interested 
but stayed away due to the massive YJ concentration.  But most important, 
the YJs seemed to concentrate here and leave the bees alone.  There must 
have been some pretty large nests out there by Labor Day...  I think the 
live and let live solution was superior - at least in late summer, and 
less clean-up too.

Dave