> I now advise 'leaving them alone' until frost if they are inside walls of a > house, and explain why just in case someone else advises killing them at > night. I think "leaving them alone" is excellent advice. As beekeepers we are constantly educating the public that honeybees rarely sting. More likely it's some other stinging insect. At the same time, we really should recognize the importance of these "other stinging insects". Most wasps hunt insects to feed their brood. They are also important pollinators in their own right as many adult wasps feed on nectar. They can do quite a job at insect control. In addition, as hobbyist beekeepers, we are more inclined to let be wasp nests so we can show our visitors the differences between wasps and honeybees. On occasion, the wasp population can become quite significant and they begin attacking our honeybees as food for wasp brood. At this point we take action. We generally have bald-faced hornets, Western yellow jackets, European paper wasps, and mud-daubers in our area. Bald-faced hornets are aggressive, but just need to be left alone and observed. The same with yellow jackets. I've seen neither harass our honeybees. While an inch and a quarter long mud-dauber looks menacing, they hunt spiders. They paralyze them and deposit them inside a cell along with an egg that ultimately hatches and feeds on it. The European paper wasps are the worst in terms of bothering our honey bees. The are very docile wasps. It takes a *lot* of harassing to upset them to the point where they will sting. They hunt our honey bees in great numbers though. In late summer it gets to the point where the European paper wasps actually aggravate our honey bees to the point where the bees become generally more aggressive. As a result, I've found the need to control the European paper wasp population through the summer by hosing their nests down from our eaves. I leave the yellow jackets though. :^) These are just some thoughts. Unless you have problems with with significant numbers of stinging insects actually *in* your house or within a few feet of your front door, or on the swing set, we can just let them be. -Jeff -- Visit www.honeybeeworld.com/bee-l for rules, FAQ and other info ---