I'm considering beekeeping but...there are wasps!

[SkyWarrior]

I honestly don't know how beekeepers keep wasps away here in Montana. We seem to have oodles of them. I am thinking next year of putting together a small apiary, but I'm wondering how to keep the wasps from destroying a colony. Thoughts?

 

[babsbag]

Depending on what kind of wasps...you could try the cone/sphere that you hang that is a wasp deterrent. But I have never seen a wasp in my hives. I have them in my barn, my shed, my hummingbird feeder, and my pond, my not in my hives.

 

[SkyWarrior]

Depending on what kind of wasps...you could try the cone/sphere that you hang that is a wasp deterrent. But I have never seen a wasp in my hives. I have them in my barn, my shed, my hummingbird feeder, and my pond, my not in my hives.

Good to know! I assumed they would kill the bees.

 

[Happy Chooks]

Are you sure they are wasps? Or yellow jackets? Yellow jackets try to rip off weak bees from my hives. It got so bad this year that I had to put out a trap. I couldn't even take laundry off my line without being run off by them.

There is a hornet I believe that goes after bees, but I don't remember what it's called. I know it has a white and black face. I've only seen a hornet around my hive once, and it wasn't an issue.

I have seen my bees ball and kill a yellow jacket that tried to enter the hive.

 

[SkyWarrior]

Are you sure they are wasps? Or yellow jackets? Yellow jackets try to rip off weak bees from my hives. It got so bad this year that I had to put out a trap. I couldn't even take laundry off my line without being run off by them.

There is a hornet I believe that goes after bees, but I don't remember what it's called. I know it has a white and black face. I've only seen a hornet around my hive once, and it wasn't an issue.

I have seen my bees ball and kill a yellow jacket that tried to enter the hive.

Technically yellow jackets are a type of wasp. We usually get two types out here: yellow jackets and some black wasp that I think is a paper or mud wasp. We've had both nests show up.

Here's a confession: I really had no idea that wasps prey on different species of bugs. I spent the morning looking on the Internet and discovering this. I assumed, rightly or wrongly, that all predator wasps killed bees. Mea culpa. So, you would suggest yellow jacket traps by the apiary?

 

[Happy Chooks]

Technically yes, but yellow jackets are so much more nasty and aggressive! I put my trap a bit away from the apiary - I probably should have put it farther away than I did. In a week, the trap is just about full. I need to empty it out soon, so I can catch more.

 

[Latestarter]

The trap has a bait in it that attracts the yellow jackets, so you don't want it TOO close to the hives... that would just draw them into the area where you don't want them.

 

[SkyWarrior]

Technically yes, but yellow jackets are so much more nasty and aggressive! I put my trap a bit away from the apiary - I probably should have put it farther away than I did. In a week, the trap is just about full. I need to empty it out soon, so I can catch more.

Yeah, they're a pain in the rear. My DH has been getting stung by the snots. So, we're looking forward to colder weather when we can blast the nests.

The trap has a bait in it that attracts the yellow jackets, so you don't want it TOO close to the hives... that would just draw them into the area where you don't want them.

Right. Makes sense.