Wasps and Bees

Wasps

There are several kinds of New Zealand native wasps which have never become a nuisance. In contrast there are now four social species which have been accidentally introduced and which are classed as pests.

Pest wasps; german, common and the paper wasps, can be distinguished from bees by their shiny hairless bodies and distinct black and yellow stripes. Honey bees have much less distinct stripes of browns. Bumble bees are much larger, have furry bodies.

After hibernating over winter, the fertilised queen wasp, starts her nest building in spring, and lays between 10 and 20 eggs. Once through the larval stage the new workers that emerge continue with enlarging the nest and feeding new larvae.

Workers prefer to feed on high-energy materials such as flower nectar and fruit. The honeydew in native New Zealand beech forests provide huge quantities of food for wasps and wasp densities can become very high. The wasps compete with native birds, bats, insects and lizards for this food source and damage the balance of the ecosystem. They are also a direct nuisance to humans and other animals by stinging us while tramping in the bush or having a barbecue in the garden.

The size of the nest will increase through the summer as more wasps are added to the colony. Nests reach their peak size in autumn and can be as large as a beach ball containing 3 to 5 thousand individuals. In New Zealand, conditions can be such that colonies do not die back during winter allowing more than the queen to survive. In this case the nests can grow over several seasons and become much larger.

More information on bees.....

Please Note:

• Wasps and bees have a painful sting, to which some individuals are more susceptible than others; on rare occasions a sting can cause anaphylactic shock. A sting on the throat or mouth can be dangerous if the swelling blocks airways. On such occasions please seek immediate medical advice.
• Wasps or bees should not be tackled without a sound knowledge of the risks.
• Bees are generally beneficial insects producing honey and pollinating our crops and flowers. However, occasionally a swarm will set up home in an inappropriate place such as the eaves of your house. In this case we strongly recommend that you contact a local beekeeper (see the National Beekeepers Association swarm collection contact list) who may try and collect the colony to use for honey production. Only if this is not possible should the colony be destroyed.
• If bees have been present for months or years at the nest site, there likely to be a honey store in the nest. Once the colony has been destroyed this honey must be removed or it will attract new swarms of bees or wasps.

How to get rid of Wasps or Bees

1. Nests - The nests of wasps and bees generally have only one entrance/exit. If this can be identified the colony can be destroyed by sprinkling or puffing the apicide NO Wasps Dust or NO Insects Carbaryl 80 into the entrance. The workers will then pick up the dust as they enter the nest and take it inside where it will kill larvae and queens.
   Note: The problems caused by honey bee colonies that have had time to build a nest are not likely to be solved using insecticide alone because the honey store in the nest will continue to attract bees and wasps. The honey store must be removed or sealed up following destruction of the colony.
2. Honey bee swarms - if you find a large 'clump' of bees, hanging from a branch or the side of your house, this is likely to be a bee swarm. This is a queen with her new colony looking for a place to build a nest. Contact you local beekeeper (see the National Beekeepers Association swarm collection contact list) and he/she will try and collect the swarm without harming it for use in honey production. The swarm may move on of its own accord within a day or two.
   Note: Honey bees are generally not aggressive while swarming.
3. Great care should be taken in treating the entrance to a nest as there is a risk of being stung. It may be advisable to do this operation at night when there is no wasp or bee activity.
4. If the nest site cannot be found it is possible to reduce wasp numbers (and maybe kill a whole colony) using NO Wasp Bait Concentrate mixed with a suitable bait such as sugar* or canned fish.
5. NO Wasps Trigger sprays are useful to treat around rubbish bins and other areas where wasps are attracted.

*Caution: Where there is a risk of attracting bees to the bait, sugar and syrup baits should not be used. In such risk areas use canned fish, raw meat, carrion or fish skeletons as an attractant and spray with water based mix described above. Fix the bait inside an inverted can and suspend from a suitable tree. Respray every 2-3 days.

NO WASP SPRAY OR BAIT CONCENTRATE

This product can be mixed with sugar to create a bait, which the wasps take back to the nest, thereby poisoning the whole nest. Alternatively NO Wasp Concentrate can be diluted with water or turps and sprayed directed onto the wasps nest and surrounding area. The bait is a good solution when the location of the nest is not known.

More information.....

NO WASPS TRIGGER SPRAY

Handy, ready to use spray.  Kills wasps quickly on contact  and contains no offencive or lingering odours.  Use around rubbish bins, food disposal areas or spray directly onto the nest in the evening when the wasps are all inside.

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NO WASPS INSECTICIDAL DUST PUFF PACK

Puff the NO Wasps dust liberally into and around nest entrances, preferably in the evening when the wasps are in the nest. The wasps will carry the powder into the nest and this eventually destroys the whole nest. Convenient and easy to use when the location of the nest is known.

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CARBARYL 80

This is a general garden insecticide used for the control of insects on ornamentals. It contains 80% carbaryl as opposed the the 5% carbaryl in NO Wasps Dust.

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More Information Bees

Bees are Beneficial Insects; they pollinate our fruit crops, other flowering crops, the flowers in the garden and of course they make honey.

There are several groups of bee; Honey Bees (Apis mellifera), Solitary Bees and Bumble Bees.

Honeybees can form colonies of tens of thousands. The honeybee is not normally a pest, producing the honey for our morning toast and pollinating our crops and flowers. These bees are usually cared for by beekeepers. However, wild colonies, or swarms that leave a hive to start a new colony can cause considerable consternation to those whose building they may choose as temporary accommodation or new home. Honeybees have a painful sting to which some people have a bad reaction. The bee sting is barbed and will stick in human skin when the bee flies off, or is brushed off. The sting will continue to pump poison and should be scraped out with a fingernail and not pinched out. Pinching the sting will pump the venom into the skin. The sting also releases a pheromone (smell) that attracts other bees to the sting site and induces them to sting also. It is therefore good advice to retreat calmly from a colony of bees if stung once.

The Bumble Bee species are generally harmless, only using their sting when heavily provoked and are found in smaller colonies than the honeybee.

The Solitary Bees do not form colonies, but may be found nesting in some numbers at a good nest site. Solitary bees are not aggressive and posses only a weak sting that rarely penetrates human skin.