# Help with yellow jackets - don't understand making hive entrance smaller



## imthegrumpyone (Jun 29, 2013)

They're a problem as well as hornets, I go through at least six big cans of spray every summer, as soon as they show up in the spring till right about this time of the year, I'm on the hunt every day. Around the house, in the garage, under this, under that, they keep me busy. Just keep after them relentlessly.


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## BeeMoose (Oct 19, 2013)

Its that time of year, apparently. I am experiencing the same problem. I have had yellow jackets on the ground below the hives all year, but recently they have moved up to and into the hives.

I was able to find out where their nest was and took care of them with some gas poured into it. I have also been hanging around my hives killing them individually(I'm retired. I've got 
the time)

A strong hive will be able to ward off attacks from yellow jackets and other invaders.

Good luck.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

You lose up to 2000 bees a day from natural attrition, a few bees to yellow jackets each day isn't anything.


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## Marcin (Jun 15, 2011)

JRG13 said:


> You lose up to 2000 bees a day from natural attrition, a few bees to yellow jackets each day isn't anything.


Do you have any reference/citation for that statement? 2000 seems a lot, considering that's in the ballpark range of what a queen can lay in a day. 
Maybe Rader will chime in....

@op,
it seems that this year yellow jackets are a bigger issue than usually. Closing up the openings so 1 or 2 bees get by should help, but having too many openings is a problem too.


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## suzyq (Jun 30, 2014)

What I found worked for me with the yellow jackets and I rarely see them any more. Took a liter pop cut the top off about 1/3 way down and flip the top so it is inside the bottle pointing down. Fill the bottle with a couple inches of pop and set by your hive. Yellow jackets get in but they don't get out. Been doing this for 3 months and have gotten more than I can count! I have 4 bottles around my only hive with different size pop bottles and the honey bees are not interested when you set them on the ground. Rarely is a bee in the bottle. Now I am getting gnats, moths and flies. I use generic coke which works great. Why spend more than you have to for those nasty pests!


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## jmgi (Jan 15, 2009)

The best defense against yellow jackets is to reduce the entrance to about 1 1/2" wide and 3/8" high on weaker colonies, the strong colonies you can probably go with a little larger entrance if you want, but I wouldn't. Those pop bottle traps work great, but no matter how many of them you have, you can't stop all the yellow jackets from bothering your hives, that's just the way it is.


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## Santa Caras (Aug 14, 2013)

Close up all your holes but one. Thats too many for a hive to protect. I beleive the screen your reffering to is called a "Robber Screen and there are several variation designs on this site. From fancy with wood frames and all to just a 'U" shaped screen stapled to the fromt entrance. Do a search on here for pics and you'll understand better. Kill any and all wasp nests you see too. Nothing wrong with using Raid when you need to!!


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## BeeGora (Oct 22, 2013)

I swatted a yellow jacket trying to get into the beehive this weekend. My reward was one of honeybees took issue with me and stung me on the nose. No good deed goes unpunished.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

Somone on beesource threw that number out, and it does refer to peak season foraging/hive population. With a hive of about 60,000 bees, it's roughly 3%.


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## suzyq (Jun 30, 2014)

I remember my brother telling me his hive was attacked by yellow jackets last year. He sat by his hive for hours killing yellow jackets with a fly swatter wearing a Hawaiian shirt and shorts! lol When I saw 2 yellow jackets few months ago hanging by the hive I knew I had to do something fast! Okay, so maybe I panicked a little. Grabbed my bee rock aimed to kill both of them with one crush. Killed one, got stung by the other in the hand. Then, like BeGora got stung by a honey bee. In the head! Later after talking to my brother I realized all they were doing was flying off with the dead bees but none the less, that's when I got me some coke bottles and set them around my hive.


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## Marysia2 (May 23, 2014)

Nurse Bee said:


> I have five dime-sized holes on my west side entrance and three dime-sized holes on the north side of the hive. The bees sealed up the south side entrance with propolis.


Hi...not sure why you would have so many holes - are they above the top bars for ventilation? I have 3 entrance holes (portholes I call them) on one side of each hive. I use corks (like wine corks) to seal up the entrance holes (corks were cut to fit when I bought the hives). Right now I have only one entrance open on each hive - the robbing that's been going on has been brutal. In a pinch when I couldn't find a cork I used a small rock to seal one of the other portholes. Close up all but one hole nearest the brood nest for the winter. Good luck!


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## Tim KS (May 9, 2014)

When I fed some sugar syrup this fall, it attracted all kinds of hornets & yellow jackets. I just suited up and squashed them with my gloved hands as fast as they arrived. Netting protects from their stings too.


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## crabbcatjohn (May 5, 2013)

Yellow jackets are always worse in the fall. You can hang a yellow jack trap up nearby. But as explained above, you should close down all your entrances except one. I also make sure i seal off and insulate my follower board by packing my hives with straw. This also prevents robbing by shutting the back door.
BTW, as far as i know, robber screens won't work with yellow jackets. They are smaller than honey bees...


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

It is the wing muscles they are taking. Reducing the entrance will help some even if they are picking them off outside, it gives the guard bees a focused area and they may try to defend it. But the traps are probably the easiest. You can also "beeline" the yellow jackets back to their nest and kill the nest... but that is more work. A tablespoon of gasoline in the nest and cover the hole works well to kill the nest. Of course wear a veil. Do NOT light the gasoline... it will be much less effective, no matter how much fun it is, if you light it... and it's much safer not to light it...


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## jcolon (Sep 12, 2014)

OH OH You just kicked the tree huggers nest...:banana:


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

>OH OH You just kicked the tree huggers nest...

I've been known to hug a tree... and shoot a deer... and kill a nest of yellow jackets...


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## SeaCucumber (Jun 5, 2014)

My recommendations (based on very little experience):
Try some of these before using strong chemicals.

For external hives:
Physically destroy the nest with a power washer or paintball gun.

For hives in a structure:
Spray them with soap water. This won't work if they are deeper in.
Dry ice
Section off a part of the building, and then use a "flee bomb" (gas). This is what I did, and it worked.
Trap outs

Don't use loads of yellow jacket traps. You need to have some yellow jackets for pest control.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

> or paintball gun.

Paintball gun? Sounds like a way to stir them up... the power washer might work but only if you get enough to drown them (yellow jackets usually live in a hole in the ground) or you use some soap.


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## Kathyk (Jul 23, 2014)

I like to fill the holes in the ground with spray foam


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## Apismellifera (Oct 12, 2014)

I checked this out awhile back - and a lot of folk were advocating this non nasty method - git yourself a nice jar, maybe something with a narrow neck on it, and jam that in the hole of the ground nest, at night, real stealthy like. ;-)

The critters will come up and fly around in the jar wondering why they can't go anywhere, but eventually it will starve it out.

Now some folks have told me they have multiple entrances so this won't work, but I haven't found that to be true in my experience. I haven't tried this because I haven't found any nests to eradicate, tho' I kill a coupla jellowjackets a day at my feeder on the porch. They don't seem to bother the bees usually, just want the sweet stuff, but... I did see one yj buzz the front of the hive one day, and another found one bee and yj locked in a death struggle in front of the hive but no other evidence That they're going for the bees, thankfully. Oh, I was also buzzed by a giant yj one day on the porch, gone when I came back out with the swatter!


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## jcolon (Sep 12, 2014)

After been attacked twice by the yellow crew, i think no method of extermination should be ignored. Is like terrorists - you hit them first or they will hit you... You made me think of deer jerky, gosh I'm hungry



Michael Bush said:


> >OH OH You just kicked the tree huggers nest...
> 
> I've been known to hug a tree... and shoot a deer... and kill a nest of yellow jackets...


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## jadebees (May 9, 2013)

you can just shove a wad of wax or comb into a top bar hive's holes. Save one for the bees. Smaller entries need fewer defenders. Drastic measures can be needed. Traps are good. Got 100's? Screen the hive for 1 day. Make a poisoned feeder. After dark ,giving the yellowjackets all day with it, remove and destroy the feeder. This often kills the queen too.
Start trapping any way you can early in the year. Only the yellowjacket queen lives thru winter. Each one you get is a whole nest. Unlike queen bees they must forage for their young so they are out & active for weeks. This is very noticable year to year.
Good luck.


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