"Sacha" wrote in message
...
On 2012-01-02 17:34:10 +0000, "Bill Grey" said:


"Spider" wrote in message
...

I was stung by a wasp in the garden years ago and it was incredibly
painful. I was in shock, and felt unwell for about five days. Like
you,
though, I like them and frequently rescue them from being trapped
indoors,
or drowning. They are very useful insects.
Spider

And they attack and rob bee-hives :-(

Bill

But the bees gang up and kill them. I watched my bees do it and very
Hitchcock it was. Of course, the trouble is, the bees die, too. ;-(
--
Sacha
www.hillhousenursery.com
South Devon

A local bee-keeper used to be only too glad to get rid of wasp nests because
of the damage they caused to his hives.

Bill

wrote in message
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Sacha wrote:
It was the bee society people who gave him the new queen. Apparently
it's
just "try your luck, they may take to her, they may not".
Oh well, they must know what they're doing - bad luck on the queen
though. Can he take off a nucleus from his current hive and put it in
another instead of trying another new queen? These are suggestions
only from me - it's a long time since I kept bees but afaik, that does
work but it would mean having two hives/colonies.

I'm confused. You mean ending up with 2 queenless hives?

I've no knowledge of bees, but from what Sacha has said, I deduce the two
groups would nurture their own queens. I know thet bees nurture several
"babies" and the first one to hatch kills the unhatched ones. Am I right
Sacha?

Bill

"Spider" wrote in message
...
On 02/01/2012 17:34, Bill Grey wrote:
wrote in message
...

I was stung by a wasp in the garden years ago and it was incredibly
painful. I was in shock, and felt unwell for about five days. Like
you,
though, I like them and frequently rescue them from being trapped
indoors,
or drowning. They are very useful insects.
Spider

And they attack and rob bee-hives :-(

Bill


So do humans.

How Sweet :-)
Bill

wrote in message
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Sacha wrote:
He needs to ask the bee-keeping group this but from what I recall, the
two hives would supply their own queens by forming queen cells, if the
workers are old enough and not mainly brood. That way, there is no
danger of the queen being killed off because she's one of their own.
They do this queen cell producing naturally anyway.

But ... there's no queen, so no-one to lay an egg to turn into a queen?

Good point!

Bill

"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
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"Christina Websell" wrote in message
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To add to last week.
I got some logs delivered for my woodburner and the next day I was
bringing 5 or so inside last thing at night (as you do)
I just got inside the house with them when I felt the most amazing pain
in the end of one of my fingers. I dropped the logs which luckily missed
my recently broken ankle.
I didn't know it was a wasp, but I suspected it, and I had forgotten how
much a wasp sting hurt. It's years since I had a sting and this was a
big saved up all the poison one that has been painful for 4 days.
Anyway she crawled out on my carpet away from the logs.

Part of me wanted to stamp on her. I didn't. I gathered her up on some
wood and put her outside. No doubt to go back to my woodheap. I like
wasps. Normally.


For the first time in my life I found a queen wasp.
By touch, naturally.
I was moving some stuff out of my daughter's loft and picked up a piece of
board with the wasp under it.
I thought I'd touched a live electric connection at first.

Yes. I had truly forgotten how painful a wasp sting was.

The wasp did not survive the encounter.

I managed to let mine live. Wasps will not sting unless they are threatened
and I thought she had hidden away enough in the logs to deserve not to be
killed.
I can't say I liked it, it was horribly painful and took 5 days to recover.
For the first two hours I did not know what to do, it hurt so much. Then I
remembered put vinegar on it.
I did that, but it kept me awake most of the night even so.

I would not consider killing an overwintering queen wasp even if she stung
me. Which she did!

Tina

wrote in message
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Christina Websell wrote:
And they attack and rob bee-hives :-(
That's hornets. I saw them do it in Germany.

That may be hornets as well, but it's definitely wasps. I've seen them do
it, in the UK.

I never saw hornets until I was in Germany, they are serious predators of
bees, my friend had bees and the hornets were at the hive all the time.
Looking at the access and seeing if if was possible to get in.
Tina

"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
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snip
The wasp did not survive the encounter.

I managed to let mine live. Wasps will not sting unless they are
threatened and I thought she had hidden away enough in the logs to deserve
not to be killed.
I can't say I liked it, it was horribly painful and took 5 days to
recover. For the first two hours I did not know what to do, it hurt so
much. Then I remembered put vinegar on it.
I did that, but it kept me awake most of the night even so.

I would not consider killing an overwintering queen wasp even if she stung
me. Which she did!

In mitigation I would say that the wasp was already badly injured so it was
a mercy killing.

In the interests of full disclosure I would say that even if it wasn't
injured I would still have flattened the little bu**er.

Beneficial they may be (in some ways, but not apparently to bees) but I
don't like wasps!

--
No plan survives contact with the enemy.
[Not even bunny]

Helmuth von Moltke the Elder

(\__/)
(='.'=)
(")_(")

"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
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"Christina Websell" wrote in message
...

"David WE Roberts" wrote in message
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snip
The wasp did not survive the encounter.

I managed to let mine live. Wasps will not sting unless they are
threatened and I thought she had hidden away enough in the logs to
deserve not to be killed.
I can't say I liked it, it was horribly painful and took 5 days to
recover. For the first two hours I did not know what to do, it hurt so
much. Then I remembered put vinegar on it.
I did that, but it kept me awake most of the night even so.

I would not consider killing an overwintering queen wasp even if she
stung me. Which she did!

In mitigation I would say that the wasp was already badly injured so it
was a mercy killing.

In the interests of full disclosure I would say that even if it wasn't
injured I would still have flattened the little bu**er.

Beneficial they may be (in some ways, but not apparently to bees) but I
don't like wasps!

In the interests of full disclosure I did consider it when I was jumping up
and down with an incredible pain in my finger.
OMG, did it hurt! I don't know if worker wasps have less venom in than
queens do, but she sure did pack a punch.
Tina