Garth,
 
Isn't there a risk of killing bees that land on the sticks, or of bees
tracking the poison in to the hive with them if they have contact with
it and killing other bees.
 
I am often tempted to try and set up some sort of bait for the wasps
(other than jam pots for them to drown in) but am too worried that what
harms the wasp will harm the bee.
 
Wasps are just beginning to pester my bees and they make me hopping
mad... In any other situation I value the fact that all predatory or
scavenging insects have their place - just not in my apiary.
 
I haven't ever come across a good suggestion for dealing with them bar
narrowing all hive entrances, particularly on weaker colnies or nucs,
and not leaving anything around that is an easy meat so to speak.
 
What has anyone else got to say about this. It certainly isn't something
an old .22 could take care of (that's if I had one - only ever saw them
in the movies).
 
In my case I can't track down the nest and destroy it because it will be
in a neighbours roof or something like that. Last year I could see the
flight path clear as day, but there wasn't anything to about it, short
of standing there all day stamping on the pests.
 
Madeleine, London, UK