I am having a problem with yellow jackets robbing my hives. I have closed down the entrances and it has helped some. I once read on this bulletin board about a trap for yellow jackets and bald face hornets. I can't find it again. Can anyone help?
I have seen the traps at several hardware stores. I'd go to your local hardware store and ask. I was afraid it would catch bees, but apparently it doesn't.
That is one of my concerns also. I have seen the ones at the hardware store but the one I read about was made out of a 2 liter pop bottle. I am going to Lowes this afternoon and see if they have any left.
I used the pop bottle one, but unfortunately it didn't catch tons of yellowjackets, I guess it was just to easy for them to rob the weaker hives. All you do is get a 2-liter bottle, cut a little entrance hole in the top side of it, fill the bottom with soapy water, and smear something all over the inside of it to attract them, jelly, jam, cola in the water, etc. Make sure you put the bottle top back on. Basically the yellowjackets come in through the little entrance you cut on the side and aren't smart enough to get back out. I trapped probably 100 yellowjackets (not many considering how many I had) and 0 bees.
[This message has been edited by mikechim (edited September 30, 2002).]
I have seen a trap that a great aunt of mine used with a two liter cola bottle and it is the same idea but:
You cut with a sharp knife the entire top of the bottle off right above the top of where the lable starts. Throw away bottle cap. This basicly leaves you with a plastic cone and a plastic cup. You place what ever bait you use(cannot remember what she did for bait) in the plastic cup part. You then turn the cone upside down and wedge into the plastic cup part, creating a funnel right into the trap part. Does this make sence?
Hornets are meat eaters I have used canned cat food or any canned meat will work. The cat food salmon flavored works best but be careful it will stink bad when it is working the best, and it encorages bacteria.
I just burry it after 2 weeks.
Clint
I have no real experience at catching yellow jackets, but they tell me they need meat from early summer until late summer. They use it to feed the brood, like bees use pollen, but they don't need it in the fall. So if you put meat out and they don't go for it, it may be the time of year that is the problem. They say they are more succeptable to the meat in the summer and the sugar in the spring and fall. I'd try them both, but just wanted to pass on that it depends on the time of year.
I read in an old beekeeping magazine about a guy who used a bottle half full of beer, preferably a wide mouthed bottle. The Yellow Jackets crawl in, and fall in the beer and drown.
The lifecycle of the Yellowjacket makes it want different things at different times. When they want Carbohydrates, Beer is great. When they want Protien, canned cat food seems to do the trick. I have tried putting both in a single container with almost no success, but if you just put two containers side by side, one with each type of bait, you'll see them fill up in no time at all. Also, a drop or two of red food coloring in the beer seems to help.
I use the clear 2 Liter bottle type and make my own using snipped off kitchen funnels poked through 3/8" holes near the top 1/3 of the bottles and hold them in place with duct tape. (Gotta love duct tape!) The cut off funnels actually stick out of the bottles almost an inch, but the tape acts as a sort of a ramp that the Yellowjackets don't seem to mind at all.
Best Regards
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