Yellow jackets by my hives

[daniel-delarosa]

Someone told me that I needed to feed my bees some syrup.  I have two hives so I put a pie pan full of syrup between them a few days ago.  I went to check to see if they actually ate it today and the pan was pretty much empty of syrup but there were five or six yellow jackets in the pan. Did I mess up by trying to feed my bees by attracting yellow jackets to my hives?  Maybe next time I should put the syrup inside the hive? My hive base has two screened drawers. I put styrofoam board in the bottom drawer for insulation, but I was thinking that I could put a shallow dish of syrup or dry sugar in the top one.  What do y'all think?

[Kathyp]

the decision to feed should be based on what is inside your hives.  do they have enough stored to get through winter?  if yes, don't feed.  if no, how you feed depends on your weather.  it's to late here for me to feed syrup.  i don't know what your temps and weather are like.

fall feeding should be 2:1 syrup.  that's not impossible to do in an open feeder, but easier with an internal or jar feeder.  open feeding in the fall is bound to attract yellowjackets in most areas.  regardless, it should not be done at the hives.  50 ft or better away if you can manage it.  an open pan inside the hive will add moisture and if not done carefully will drown your bees.

without knowing more of your situation, it's hard to give specific recs. this is just general stuff.

[KD4MOJ]

Really weird... I have them flying around the front of the hives in the grass. Don't seem to be bothering any bees, they just hang out for some reason...  :?


...DOUG
KD4MOJ

[Cindi]

Doug, you gotta watch those nasties.  They love honey and they also love honeybee larvae.  Don't think that if they are just hanging around outside the hives, that they are probably not trying to get into the colony.  As Kathy said, never feed outside close to the colonies, a long distance away is better.  You could attract robber honeybees to the colony and also the wasps.  Your bees will find the food that you place outside regardless of where it is put, so keep it out of the beehouse area.  Wasps LOVE sugar syrup as much as honeybees do.  Good luck and remember this.  Have a most beautiful and awesome day, health.  Cindi

[KD4MOJ]

Thanks Cindi for the update on those pesky creatures. The only ones I hate worse are the pygmy(sp) wasps. Their stings pack a punch (not to mention the swelling)!


...DOUG
KD4MOJ

[Cindi]

Doug, you are welcome.  No clue about the pygmy wasps, but they sound nasty!!!  This has been a year like I have never seen before for multitudes of wasps, so many people have been stung, including me, which is a rarety for sure.  Have a most great and awesome day, life and health.  Cindi

[Mistura Fina]

If the yellowjackets make you nervous, hang a trap nearby. Most yellowjacket traps come with assurances that the attractant doesn't affect honey bees. I hung one by my hive and it started trapping yellowjackets, but no honey bees. It worked like a charm.

[Tucker1]

This year I had real problems with Yellow Jackets.  I used traps to help resolve the problem.  The traps caught a lot of yellow jackets, but the problem continued. I also poisoned the Yellow Jackets, using soft cat food and flea poison. (You'll need to protect the poisoned cat food with some sort of means, to prevent cats or dogs from eating it.)  

That also seemed to work, but the problem continued, to a lesser degree.  Only our recent cold weather seems to have done the job.

One of the BK's on the forum suggested I start earlier in the year, with the hopes of getting them before they build up. Perhaps, even poison the queen before she starts laying eggs. If you do a little searching, you'll find that you can make up your own traps using plastic bottles. That will save a few bucks.

Good luck with the Yellow Jackets.


Regards,
Tucker1