# Invasion!!



## disc999golfer999 (Jun 9, 2013)

Here are multiple images of the invader bee:


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## MTN-Bees (Jan 27, 2014)

Yellow Jackets


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## beeware10 (Jul 25, 2010)

yellow jackets cannot kill a good hive of bees. the frame you showed had queen cells showing the hive was queenless and trying to raise a new one. you had other problems.


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## MTN-Bees (Jan 27, 2014)

How many Yellow Jackets did you see? I've only seen a few that will take down a occasional honeybee. Could the queenless hive been robbed by honey bees and the yellow jackets came in after the robbing?


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

When was the last time for a hive inspection?
There is a chance that this hive develop some problem and died out or decided to just leave. Now
the yellow jacket cleaned them up. If there is a current invasion then the ground
close to the hive entrance will be full of dead honey bees and an occasional dead yellow jacket
in the pile. Did you see a pile of dead bees under the entrance?


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## disc999golfer999 (Jun 9, 2013)

MTN-Bees said:


> How many Yellow Jackets did you see? I've only seen a few that will take down a occasional honeybee. Could the queenless hive been robbed by honey bees and the yellow jackets came in after the robbing?


Here is a video of activity at another hive entrance.: Yes it looks like robbing.


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## disc999golfer999 (Jun 9, 2013)

MTN-Bees said:


> Yellow Jackets


Yes it looks like them. These are the ones I destroyed by the entrance.
That will put a dent in their population.


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## disc999golfer999 (Jun 9, 2013)

beepro said:


> When was the last time for a hive inspection?
> There is a chance that this hive develop some problem and died out or decided to just leave. Now
> the yellow jacket cleaned them up. If there is a current invasion then the ground
> close to the hive entrance will be full of dead honey bees and an occasional dead yellow jacket
> in the pile. Did you see a pile of dead bees under the entrance?


A photo from August 7th. Here I am looking at the viewing window where I got the smaller honey super installed.
Today I look and there are no bees. It has been over a month that I looked at them. 

There was some bees on the ground near the entrance but not more than normal.


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## disc999golfer999 (Jun 9, 2013)

beepro said:


> When was the last time for a hive inspection?
> .......


Actually I was using a bucket feeder which was inside the hive. I put it on 1/2 inch mounts and I had it over the hole in this photo. I used a spare super body and lid to cover the whole feeder and since it was at the top of the hive it only allowed access for the bees of that colony. That is different from the entrance feeders where other bees from other hives can find out about it.


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

Yellow jackets are usually the clean up crew. I suspect lack of pollen or mites to be your issue.


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## beepro (Dec 31, 2012)

disc999golfer999 said:


> Yes it looks like them. These are the ones I destroyed by the entrance.
> That will put a dent in their population.
> View attachment 14072


It is hard to know how big a nest the YJacket had made. So a small death in population will not deter them to
continue what they are doing. It is better to clean up this hive and put all the frames away for another year to
start over. Better if you have another hive to distribute these resources to. Write it off as a loss this time.


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## disc999golfer999 (Jun 9, 2013)

beepro said:


> ... It is better to clean up this hive and put all the frames away for another year to
> start over. ... Write it off as a loss this time.


Yes a total loss.
I think that hive died out because of a few reasons. I had not really closed off the entrance enough until a few weeks ago. 
I was using an external entrance feeder on my other 2 hives, and they showed signs of being under attack, but were able to defend.
One of the other 2 hives was a smaller one.
This hive had a tub feeder inside, and I think the other hives (3 houses down 15 colonies) were able to attack and get resources.
Maybe the robber bees saw resources at my 4 hives, and scouted since the entrance was not closed off enough. Then they robbed all they could, and this one (which was my 2nd strongest) was unable to defend against them.
The other problem is my neighbor doesn't feed his bees, I think maybe 1 time in the fall. This hive died out just as the dearth set in. The other hives not having feed, or natural resources took to robbing.


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## disc999golfer999 (Jun 9, 2013)

I had a second hive that got destroyed.
Well 1 less to try and overwinter.

I thought I still had bees in there, but I noticed fighting outside when I was home for lunch.
So what I did was to put it in the shed the other day and I closed off the entrance.

Yesterday I grabbed it and looked at the hive and there was no bees.
I got 1 double stack left, and another hive that has so few bees that I am surprised it hasn't died out already.


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## DaveInThePacNW (Jul 4, 2013)

beeware10 said:


> yellow jackets cannot kill a good hive of bees. the frame you showed had queen cells showing the hive was queenless and trying to raise a new one. you had other problems.


Thanks for the insight!! I need to check out this "Disease & Pests" forum more often...I've been hanging out in "Beekeeping 101" and I've learned more here in the last half hour than I have in the last month on this website. Thanks again!!


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