Yellow jackets in the bee yard

[MarkT]

I have a large amount of small yellow jackets in my be yard, they are around the hives, should I be worried, can they cause any problems, and if yes is there a way to get rid of them,  traps, or something like that.
Thanks

[LindaL]

Yes I would be worried.  Yellow Jackets can start to rob the hives.   Google - "trap for yellow jackets homemade"   I don't have any experience with these types of traps my worry is that you would end up trapping the bees to.   I would keep an eye if you see any signs of robbing.  Put up a robber screen or reduce the size of the entrance to the hives to make it easier for the bees to protect themselves.


Linda.

[Michael Bush]

I've never seen a problem with them here (in Nebraska) but some people have problems with them killing bees and hauling off the wing muscles as well as robbing the honey.  Many of my hives are under my pear tree and in the fall there are always a lot of yellow jackets around (as well as bees) sucking the juice from the pears.

[WarPonyFarms]

We have problems with them here in the fall as the weather cools.  The yellow jackets fly at a lower temperature so they will grab the bees, carry them off a little ways and eat what they like of them, leaving what they don't.  A strong yellow jacket population can wipe out a hive in short order as they seem to all attack one hive at a time.

We use traps with the backbones of salmon suspended over buckets of soapy water in the spring and fall with great success.  The yellow jackets fill themselves on the salmon until they can't fly and roll off into the soapy water and drown but honey bees aren't attracted to the meat. 

Keep entrances small and hives strong.

Good Luck

Dale

[LindaL]

We use traps with the backbones of salmon suspended over buckets of soapy water in the spring and fall with great success.  The yellow jackets fill themselves on the salmon until they can't fly and roll off into the soapy water and drown but honey bees aren't attracted to the meat. 

OMG that's evil!  I love it.

[BlueBee]

Same as Mr Bush around here.  Also got a pear tree that attracts a lot of yellow jackets in the fall (fruit on the ground), but I haven’t had them take out any hives or nucs.  The pears are probably easy pickins for the yellow jackets.  Maybe that helps keep them away from the bees?  I don’t know.

[Oblio13]

We use traps with the backbones of salmon suspended over buckets of soapy water in the spring and fall with great success.  The yellow jackets fill themselves on the salmon until they can't fly and roll off into the soapy water and drown but honey bees aren't attracted to the meat. 

Thanks for posting that, I'm going to try it. We live on a lake and catch salmon all the time, I've been burying the leftovers in the garden.

I've had problems with yellowjackets in a couple hives. The bases reminded me of that dramatic scene in 'Gone with the Wind', thousands of dead strewn about.

[Kathyp]

they'll kill a hive here.  trap work if you get them out and baited early enough.  if they have gotten a taste for the honey the traps don't seem to work as well.

do what you can to kill them now and next year bait early to get the queens.

[GSF]

When the yellowjacket population starts to spike upwards we find the nest, dose it with gas, then set it on fire.

How do I find one? (almost a scene out of Forrest Gump) I walk around likely areas - ditches till I see/hear them or till I get stung. Most of them are in the ditch out front which runs 4-5 hundred feet and is semi overgrown. In the woods it will be where the goats have let stuff grow. I have seen them come out of the nest and have a ball size about three foot across.

[Michael Bush]

>dose it with gas, then set it on fire.

It's actually more effective to just does it with gas and NOT set it on fire... not to mention safer...

[sc-bee]

Frontline in tuna. From a previous beemaster post:

>Before I became a Beekeeper this year I waged all out war on Yellow Jackets. I had several underground nests in my yard. I read a researcher in CA found that Frontline dog & cat flea killer (1-2 drops to a can of cat food or tuna) will kill the nest by the foragers taking baited meat back to the nest where they feed the brood. I tried the method a year & half ago and I have not had a yellow Jacket problem since. I would only do this towards the middle or end of summer because thats when the YJ's are searching for meat more than sweets. To keep local pets and critters from getting the baited meat I placed the can in a birdgage to allow the YJ's in and out.
I tried the store bought traps and they captured a lot of yellows jackets but just like honeybees the YJ's kept putting out new foragers. Hope it helps

[GSF]

I agree with you Michael.., but there's just something satisfying about watching it burn :evil: