Yellow Wasps

[Rxmaker]

Indian Summer in Montana with mornings at 30 and afternoon at 75. Great time if you are a yellow jacket. I am new to bees this year and all has gone well so far. Feeding for fall now and the yellow robbers have come out of the woodwork. Using entrance feeders on 3 hives and have closed the entrances down to about 2-3 inches. Will the glass wasp traps also attract my girls should I hang them in a nearby tree? I absolutely HATE wasps but cannot stand out there all day with my torch and incinerate them. Any other suggestions?

Peter
Belgrade, MT

[riverbee1]

hi peter,
your part of montana is beautiful this time of year. i like the torch and incinerator method myself

this is one of the downfalls of entrance feeders, they attract the wasps, and sometimes you may experience robbing with these as well, if you can next year, use a feeder over your inner cover with a box to protect it and you won't have the wasp problem.

i have used those wasp traps, don't put a sugar mixture in it, wasps and yellow jackets love apples. slice up some apples, put them in the trap and fill with a little water. this will work to attract them, and your honeybees will ignore it. you can also use other fruits, banana, (messy), pears or peaches, but the apple slosh mixture works well for me.

[toekneepea]

Peter,

If you're using a standard set-up, move the entrance feeder atop of the inner cover, and place an empty box around it. The girls will access it through the hole in the inner cover, and the box around (covered with your outer cover) will prevent robbing.

Cheers,
Tony P.

[Rxmaker]

I have not noticed any other robbers. Nearest hives are over a mile and are my DILs. Mine would be robbing from themselves. Will try the traps with apples. I like the entrance feeders as I can change them quickly in the morning when it is cool.

Peter

[Charlie B]

If you want your hives to be robbed by other bees, yellow jackets, ants etc., use an entrance feeder. Do yourself a favor, cut your losses and don't use them. Go to Home Depot and buy the 2.5 quart clear plastic "Versa-Tainer" paint buckets with lids. They're less than $3.00 a piece. Wash buckets and lids when you get home. Polk holes in the lid with a small nail, fill it with syrup, turn it upside down and place it on top of your frames using two 3/8 inch shims. Place an empty medium super on to protect it, inner cover them top cover.

Or, place the upside down bucket on top of the hole in your inner cover using shims, medium super then top cover;

Or, cut a larger hole the size of the bucket lid in your inner cover, staple #8 hardware cloth to cover the hole, place bucket over the hole, then medium super then top cover. That way the bees will feed through the hardware cloth to the bucket lid and you can re-fill without disturbing the bees sticking to the lid or flying up in your face. You don't have to worry about burr comb with this option. It's a little more work modifying the inner cover but it's the easiest in the long run for me.

I hope this helps.

[riverbee1]

Mine would be robbing from themselves.

and sometimes they do. the apples work, and if they are overly ripe, this works even better.

[kevink]

hey rxmaker...


i put up post for a trap for a trap thats fairly cheap and easy to do...

http://www.beesource.com/forums/show...ket-trap/page2


hope this helps!

[Michael Bush]

Usually the bait for a yellow jacket trap involves a banana peel and some vinegar. Some meat doesn't hurt either. I don't know how it would work for wasps. I never had trouble with wasps.