# Yellow Jackets attacking hives I need to inspect



## missybee (Sep 6, 2014)

We bought a bunch of the bag type yellow jacket traps, disposable. Filled them with some sugar water, hung them around our hives. The sugar water does better than the stuff that comes in the trap, we did leave it in the trap also. We did trap a few bees, but the wiped out a ton of yellow jackets. They have been bad this year.

We ignore the yj when working the bees, since we work suited up.


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

Tom Bond said:


> in preparation to fog w/FGMO


What do you hope to accomplish with this?


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## MTN-Bees (Jan 27, 2014)

I mix Frontline (Fipronil) in a can of fish based canned cat food. I place it out and within 48 hours all the YJs are dead.


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

I see that the op is a relatively new beekeeper. I hope you will take this in the spirit it is intended….just a piece of advice.
If you wait until your bees show symptoms of varroa infestation, treating then will often be too late. 
If you wait until you see symptoms and it is already late in the season and you choose an ineffective treatment (fogging with fgmo) then you are certain to fail.


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## Tom Bond (Sep 25, 2017)

Thanks, everyone. I'm planning to try some of these ideas.


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

Late-season bee-work is always fraught with YJ and robbing issues. You can improve things a bit by doing the the things I noted below. And making sure that before you crack open any hive, you have a clear plan of attack and have everything needed right at hand. This is not the time for extensive looking around. Know what you need to do, get that - and only that - done. While speed is good, try move deliberately, not roughly, as that will just add to the upset in your yard. And next year, plan ahead so that you don't have a long list of chores. (I am always trying to do that, and always seem to fall short in that area.) 

When inspecting always keep all the boxes securely covered except when your hands are actually in a box manipulating a frame. I use lightweight covers made from plastic political signs for this.

Never use things like those external frames rests to hang frames that are out of the boxes, and do not lean an out-of-hive frames up against the stack. Put any frames temporarily out of the hive in a closed-up nuc box.

Do not set boxes on end when working on the one below. When an upper box is off the stack set it down on a temporary base, with a completely screened entrance and keep it covered.

Have an easily close-able container to immediately place any burr comb you need to scrape off. I use a large metal cooking pot with a lid. I can shake any bees off, pick up the lid and toss the comb pieces into it in one quick motion. 

Keep a bucket with warm water in it to quickly rinse your hands when they become sticky from honey.

After the stack is back in place, use a paper towel to wash down any traces of honey or syrup that are exposed on the box sides.

If the broken propolis seals keep the boxes from fitting back together tightly, use 3-M Original blue painters' tape to cover the seams for awhile so the bees can make repairs. 

Get the entrances really cranked down after you are done, even if they weren't before. This gives bees time to reestablish control of their space. I use robber screens, as well.

You can swat away any persistent YJ, or even just reach out and squish them with your fingers. But they serve a purpose in the overall scheme of things, even if they are troublesome to beekeepers wanting to work hives late in the year.

I would not use fipronil (a neonic) around my bees.

FGMO will not kill the mites. It just does not work, notwithstanding stuff you may have seen on the internet. If your bees need treatment for mites (and they certainly do if you are seeing DWV in any colony in your yard) you should use an effective mite treatment immediately. Apivar (a synthetic treatment), perhaps Apiguard (thymol-based), Mite Away-Quick strips (formic acid) or a series of oxalic acid vaporizations would be your best bets. MAQS will give you the fastest knock down of the mites which will turn the DWV situation around the fastest (an important consideration at this time of year when your winter bees are being born.) But it comes with a slightly elevated risk of queen loss, which is a difficult thing to manage at this time of year; using a half-dose of MAQS helps reduce queen risk at the cost of doubling the risk period. 

Depending on your sense urgency for your area (I am in northern NY, so my season is already nearly finished), I personally would choose MAQS (fastest knockdown) or an extended series of OAV in your situation. But I already have OAV equipment on hand. Absent that, I think two half-doses of MAQS would be best. It would be helpful if during the treatment period you can locate a source of new queens still available in about a month, if needed. Or be prepared to combine any queenless colony with a QR one to get them both through winter until you can split them back up when queens become available again. But doing this means you will have to check for queenrightness after the conclusion of the treatment in order to know it has occurred and do a combine.

DWV will abate - for now -with effective treatment, but it does not go away completely as it can remain in honey and pollen stored in the combs. So you should be prepared to institute a season-long monitoring program next year and have a plan for intensive mite treatment if needed.

Nancy


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## Hogback Honey (Oct 29, 2013)

Did you treat for Varroa before now? Usually August is when I start, after I've pulled supers. A lot of the time YJ's are flying around the front of the hive cleaning up the dead bodies, if a hive is weak they come and go into the hive as they please. I limit my fall inspections, because I don't want to expose the odor of honey, and have robbing started. It's your first year, why do you want to requeen? I'm a 4th year, and have never requeened. I split my 2 hives last year, now have 4, got great queens from a BS member. My 2 original hives made themselves new queens. First thing you need to do is keep on top of Varroa management. Oh, you can still vaporize, just before sunrise YJ's are normally not around.

And what Enjambres said, VERY good advice. 

Good Luck


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## Tom Bond (Sep 25, 2017)

Enjambres 
Thanks for the advice.





Hogback Honey said:


> Did you treat for Varroa before now?


I didn't treat until last Thursday when I vaporized OA.

I've been trying robbing sceens and traps for about a week. The traps caught about 25 yellow jackets. The robbing sceens seem to be helping, too. I destroyed another YJ nest 3 days ago and the situation has greatly improved.


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## hex0rz (Jan 14, 2014)

After being on this forum for years, to finally see a post from a new beekeeper i can see they're new before they even admit it...

Funny thing is, i can put myself in their shoes almost every time they mention their issue!

Two things arise from this:

1. The strong presence of flawed beekeeping practices/information.

2. How sad i feel for new keepers. With the lack of being properly equipped in sound knowledge, their hives are doomed before they know it. 

I don't mean to attempt to make your thread into anything poster child like, but numerous things you mentioned are seemingly all the product of bad information offered online. Whether it was here or not. Admittedly i too suffered from the same problem. Internet mentoring helped me figure out what NOT to continue doing...

What you decide to listen to and heed, this will shape your future beekeeping experiences.

I'm going to do something for you. I'm going to make a prediction for you. Based on your information provided, your hives are dead already. Count on them not making it through to spring. 

While it'll be a hard lesson learned, this is the hard and fast way of online beekeeping. You'll have more time from now until next spring to decide whether to continue beekeeping or throw in the towel. If you want to be successful, your going to need to clear your slate of knowledge of all the silver bullet tricks you have learned. 

Model yourself after someone successful. Then will you know how to be a beekeeper...


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## Scottsbee (Jan 11, 2017)

Never know. Made some mistakes my first couple years, our bees are still alive. This time of year in Oregon is tough on the hives. The yellow jackets fly in colder weather, bees still clustered and the YJ can do some damage. 

Small enough entrance that only allows for 2 bees wide and 3/8 tall will help. 

Stay away from utube!! 

Search Randy Oliver: scientific beekeeping 
Great info. Read, read and read some more!!!

Good luck
Scott


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## HarryVanderpool (Apr 11, 2005)

The best thing you can do in my opinion is to find your local beekeeping association and start attending meetings. It doesn't cost anything.
There you will hear from interesting beekeeper / speakers and can ask all the questions that pop into your head.
An additional benefit of attending monthly meetings when you are learning the basics is that the meetings will help keep you on track through the year on what you should be doing.
For Oregon, start Here: https://orsba.org/

Up at the top of the home page click on "Local Branches" and find one near you.
You are however welcome to attend any of the meetings regardless of location.
Make sure to ask about annual beekeeping schools and field days as well.


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## Kuro (Jun 18, 2015)

I hope things will work out for you. In my first year, after hiving two packages in April, I did not treat for varroa until mid September (when I detected >10 mites/0.5 cup bees by sugar roll) or early October (mite count was lower but I found K-winged bees). I used the full dose MAQS for the former hive and two half doses of MAQS 14 days apart for the latter hive. Although both colonies survived (I also did OAV treatment during winter), looking back, my treatment was too late. In my hands, OAV during summer-fall is not effective (I learned the hard way in my second year). I never had too many yellow jackets in my yard. It may be because I kill every single YJ I find during March-April (they are most likely queens) and also trap them during that period.


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