yellow jackets
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It's normal for them to fly in and get chased out. It's normal when you're working them to have a yellow jacket land on the top bars and suck up honey from burr. I usually kill them with my hive tool when they do. I don't consider it normal for them to be flying in and out of the hive reguarlly. You can make or buy a trap for them or if you know where the nest is, kill them all.
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The traps are baited with a little meat or dead brood. Honey bees do not eat meat so the honeybees should not go in the trap unless you put something sweet in the trap.
Clint
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Clinton Bemrose
just South of Lansing Michigan
Clint
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Clinton Bemrose
just South of Lansing Michigan
When I first moved to my property 3 years ago the yellow jackets (or "jacket bees") as my daughters called them, were really bad. I used one of the traps--had it hanging on the porch. They recommend using it in late fall and early spring. Put some juice in it with some cat food (I used dry). According to the directions, the queen goes for the protein first. Since using the trap that first year I've noticed the jacket bees are not as bad as they were. Although I do have a nest right by my house in a rock wall that I've been trying to eradicate. I killed an awful lot with soapy water, but I think I will have to resort to gasoline if the activity doesn't decrease. Anybody know the lifecycle of the jacket bee?How long from egg to yellowjacket?
Regards,
Denise
Regards,
Denise
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69 Posts
Yes, wasps will live inside the hive. I found this out today while harvesting honey. I went into one hive and BAM!!! They cut into me. I went back after they calmed down thinking they had a nest hanging on the cover but no, they were in the hive and the bees didn't seem to care. They were brown and yellow with extremely thin abdomens. I haven't seen their likes before and don't care to anytime soon. Bee stings don't bother me but these still hurt several hours later. I hope no one has a similar experience. I guess it just goes to show you never know what you're going to get when you open a hive.
Mark
Mark
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4,971 Posts
Two weeks ago I was out in the bee yard when I spotted what looked like a swarm on the LZ of one of my hives. It was about the size of a softball. Thinking that it was a swarm, I scooped it up in my hand to inspect it and look for the queen.
As soon as I had it in my hand I noticed it was not calm like a swarm, but intensly agrivated. I started sifting away the bees and they kept comming right back to the ball in my hand intensly upset but not at me.
Eventuly I got to the center of the big wad of bees and found a blue jacket. I could barely get a glimps of it because as soon as I could see it the bees were right back on it, holding on to it and stinging it as fiercly as they possibly could. What a battle!
I don't think they like blue jackets very much
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As soon as I had it in my hand I noticed it was not calm like a swarm, but intensly agrivated. I started sifting away the bees and they kept comming right back to the ball in my hand intensly upset but not at me.
Eventuly I got to the center of the big wad of bees and found a blue jacket. I could barely get a glimps of it because as soon as I could see it the bees were right back on it, holding on to it and stinging it as fiercly as they possibly could. What a battle!
I don't think they like blue jackets very much
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yellowjackets(a vespid wasp) build nests of a papery material,some species nest in the ground and others nest in proected situations.the nest is begun by a queen(the only indidual to overwinter).,as workers are produced the nest is enlarged,by the end of summer the nest may contain several tiers of cells and may be up to a foot in diameter.
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>>s it normal to have a few yellow jackets in the hive?
They will usually steel from your hives on cool, early mornings. Wasp are more active in cooler temps than bees, so they steel quite swiftly. Nothing to worry about, the bees stop them as soon as it warms a bit more.
The bees will catch the wasps and ball them, and heat them to death. Bees can tolerate warmer temps than wasps.
Ian
They will usually steel from your hives on cool, early mornings. Wasp are more active in cooler temps than bees, so they steel quite swiftly. Nothing to worry about, the bees stop them as soon as it warms a bit more.
The bees will catch the wasps and ball them, and heat them to death. Bees can tolerate warmer temps than wasps.
Ian
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578 Posts
i've noticed that yellowjackets can move very quickly when the bees are definitely cooled/slowed down.
I've got a lot of jackets around. They hover around the entrance and get chased back out, but if a bee falls on the ground they are on her so quick! It pisses me off so much, I've taken to stomping on them. The more you kill, the more they come to eat their deceased brothers and the more I can kill! It is hard to stop!
We had a yellow jacket nest in the roof and called an exterminator. He said the hanging traps with pheramone were essentially useless since each nest is currently producing 150-200 young EVERY DAY!! So unless you are trapping 200 a day, you are not even keeping even. He recommended some nasty poison in cat food, that the jackets would take back to the nest and feed to the queen.
We had a yellow jacket nest in the roof and called an exterminator. He said the hanging traps with pheramone were essentially useless since each nest is currently producing 150-200 young EVERY DAY!! So unless you are trapping 200 a day, you are not even keeping even. He recommended some nasty poison in cat food, that the jackets would take back to the nest and feed to the queen.
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