Wasp Control

Sometime in September I noticed the number of wasps in the out apiary rocketing upwards. It's in a very nature friendly location so I'd expect a few wasp nests to be in the vicinity. Last year other people poisoned two wasp nests but I prefer to let them be as they're useful pollinators and they do a great job of aphid control, but as the wasp season ends and there's no wasp larvae left to provide sugary sustenance for the adults they were turning to the apiary for food.

Wasp picking over dead bees between pavers

Two wasps trying to take the same dead bee

It's normal to have a few wasps flying around below the hives collecting dead bees to take home but from mid-September there were wasps attacking bees like the one trying to dismember a Drone below (don't worry I separated them with the flick of a finger). I was also finding them assertively trying to get into hives when they were open, they were landing in my syrup buckets when I fed the bees, even in the actual feeders.

Wasp attacking a Honey Bee Drone

Wasp visiting an open hive -I gave her a prod

Falling in the jug I use to fill the bee feeders

Dessicated Wasps that'd somehow managed to get into a feeder

This wasp landed on the syrup for a drink,
whilst the bees fed in their tunnel an inch away

It was clearly time to put out  some traps to thing the wasp numbers. I got some Wasp Trap Bottle Converters from eBay, four for 99p -wasn't exactly breaking the bank. Cut crosses into a couple of 2 litre drink bottles and pushed the 'converters' in. They're pretty simple things really, you could make some from mesh but they're so cheap it's not worth the effort. To bait the traps I used some fruit juice, beer, a little cat food and the magic ingredient dead wasps. I read somewhere that their scent attracts other wasps so with a small jar and some tweezers I caught about fifty wasps which I used to bait my two bottle traps.

Bottle traps

When adding wasp traps to an apiary it's important to place them correctly. I put these two downwind of the hives and in the flight path of visiting wasps.It seemed to work pretty well. A couple of days later there were quite a few in there, I took the picture below a couple of days later. At the time of writing the dead wasps form a layer over and inch deep. Whilst I'd rather not be killing them nature's plan for them is a slow death by cold and starvation so I don't worry too much about these traps really.

The traps are working

Wasps entering a stack of Supers

I also noticed a lot of wasp activity in the corner of a stack of Supers. they'ed found their way in through a small gap in the stack floor. I guess any wax moth invesitgating the stack would've had an unpleasant surprise. I've blocked up the hole now. Hopefully it won't be full of angry well fed wasps when I open the stack in Spring.