-----Original Message-----
From: TD <[log in to unmask]>
To: [log in to unmask] <[log in to unmask]>
Date: 14 September 1998 18:52
Subject: Yellow jackets!
 
 
I had noticed that my hive has been rather feisty as of late and was
perplexed until I opened my hive the other day and was attacked by a
yellow jacket!
I looked inside for evidence of bee slaughter, and found a couple of dead
bees with their abdomen removed. What can I do to beat off these pest
before winter sets in (I'm up in Vermont, so I have less than a month to
the first frost in my area. Some regions have already had a frost) and
shore up the colony.
 
Should I feed the hives to help the recoup from these attacks?
 
 
First thing to do is reduce the entrance on the colony to just one or two
bee spaces wide.  Then after a few days providing the yellowjacket attack
seems to be much reduced or even better to have stopped altogether it would
be time to feed.
 
Feeding without reducing the entrance will only encourage further yellowjack
predation.
 
Peter Dalby