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The post titled “Bad-ant ant advice and the ascension of bees” coaxed readers out of the woodwork. Some agreed with me that the ants were not the problem, some thought they were definitely the problem, and others thought there wasn’t enough information. I have to say that I learned a lot from the discussion. [...] Yellowjacket pheromone lure vs cedar shed: the shed wins I was out in the woodshed this morning splitting logs when I heard the faintest scritch, scritch sound coming from the walls. The woodshed has three sides, all made from cedar, and when I put my ear to the wall it sounded as if [...] We beekeepers tend to think of yellowjackets and bald-faced hornets as fall predators. Since only the queens live through the winter, few of these wasps are seen in the early spring. Still, the process has begun. All by herself the queen begins to lay eggs and establish a brood nest. As the months pass [...] Contrary to popular hearsay, freezing will kill all life stages of both the greater wax moth (Galleria mellonella) and the lesser wax moth (Achroia grisella). To kill the moths, you must monitor both time and temperature. For example, the Mid-Altantic Apiculture Research and Extension Consortium (MAAREC) publishes the following guidelines to kill both species [...] After Monday’s post on yellowjackets I learned a lot about wasps. A representative of the Rescue Corporation–the people who make those plastic yellowjacket traps that I love–sent a positive i.d. on my nest: Vespula vulgaris. These are known as common wasps or, in North America, yellowjackets. Dave at Georgia Wildlife Services, Inc. wrote to [...] Yesterday I was coming down the hill after checking my hives when I saw something I hadn’t noticed before. It was right in the middle of the trail and from a distance looked like a compact pile of wood shavings. Up close, however, I saw that is was a large wasp nest. [...] This is my favorite kind of yellowjacket trap. The plastic part can be saved and reused year-to-year, and the lure inside can be purchased anew at the beginning of wasp season. They are safe for the environment because the lure is not a poison or insecticide–it is just a compound that mimics a [...] When food sources run low, such as during a summer nectar dearth, the workers in a honey bee hive will often expel both drones and drone pupae. Since drones eat plenty of food but don’t collect any, it is a way for the colony to conserve stores for the winter. Later on, in the [...] Late summer is the season when yellow jackets can be a problem for beekeepers. This is the same season that honey-robbing honey bees appear, and the miscreants can work together to produce a synergistic mess. Yellow jackets are eusocial predatory wasps. An overwintered yellow jacket queen begins a new colony in the spring by [...] Absconding is the term used when a colony of honey bees leaves its home in search of another. It is not the same as swarming. When a colony swarms, it splits in two parts: one part stays in the old home and one part finds a new home. Swarming is a form of reproduction. [...] |
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