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Yellow Jackets (YJ)

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 11:14 am
by danalion
I am looking for suggestions. I have looked at a lot of pages online and was hoping for local advice. There are YJ robbing my hive usually early in the morning I see them carrying out larvae. They seem most active early in the day and late. When I inspect around noon a few show up and stick their heads in honey cells and are very aggressive. After sun up and it is warmer the hive guard bees keep them out. I have reduced the entrance to 1/2 inch. I found one ground nest but there must be others. When they are in the hive will they try to kill the queen? I have read that this YJ robbing is more common in the fall when they need protein. This seems early as I would not call this fall.

What are other people seeing with their hives? What are you doing about it?

Thanks,

Dana

Re: Yellow Jackets (YJ)

Posted: Thu Aug 15, 2013 7:41 pm
by Backyard Bees
Hi, Dana. We see yellow jackets around our colonies year round. They do get pushier in the fall. A healthy colony should be able to fend them off. It sounds like you're doing all the right things.

Next season you can try to reduce the yellow jacket population around your colonies by trapping queens before they propagate.