No... those aren't bees!

Disclaimer: The contents of this post are for informational purposes only.  This is not intended as an endorsement or encouragement to use any substance or product in a manner for which it was not originally intended. Anyone who uses a pesticide or poison in a manner other than that for which it was intended does so at his/her own risk!

This is the time of year when an important shift takes place between the relative strengths of two very different types of beneficial insect colonies; Honey Bees and Yellow Jackets. 

Honey bees are essential throughout the spring and summer to pollinate crops, fruit trees and flowers.  Bees are only interested in pollen and nectar and will forage only for these things when weather permits throughout the spring, summer and early fall.

Yellow jackets (actually a type of wasp that many people mistake for honey bees), on the other hand,  are helpful only during a very brief period of the early summer when they eat several species of destructive caterpillars and flies.  However, when these garden pests are no longer available for them to eat, the yellow jackets turn their omnivorous attention to anything and everything else in the environment... and that's when they become a pest/danger to both man and honey bee.

During these mid-to-late summer weeks honey bees deliberately reduce the amount of food they give to their queen which forces her to slow down her egg laying.  The result is that the colony strength begins to diminish and the remaining workers take this as a sign to begin making subtle preparations for the coming winter.  This marks the beginning of a vulnerable period for the honey bee colony.

At the same time yellow jackets are building up the strength of their colonies (they usually make their nests in the ground, hollow trees, or in cavities found in walls or roofs of houses), and without the flies and caterpillars, they are becoming more and more aggressive in their quest for new sources of food.  They will eat dead animals, fruit, fish, soda and nearly anything that would normally be found on a picnic table or garbage can.  The yellow jackets also get very interested in the carbohydrate and protein found in honey and bee larvae... making them a very real threat to honey bee colonies.

Beekeepers are aware of this shift in power and often take steps to make sure the yellow jacket population is dramatically reduced.  As I said, they do this because at this time the yellow jackets are no longer beneficial to the environment and pose a very real danger to the honey bee hives in their weakened state.

Anyone who has ever had to contend with yellow jackets at a late summer back yard picnic or in their sukkah will now understand why they show up in such large numbers.

To kill off as many yellow jackets as possible, beekeepers will often set out poisoned meat for them to take back to their nests.  This kills both the adult yellow jackets who absorb some of the poison as they chew up the meat... as well as the larvae to whom the adults feed the partly digested food. 

It is important to note that this will not prevent yellow jackets from coming back the following year because the mated yellow jacket queens that hatched during the spring and early summer have already left the nest to find a places to overwinter in preparation for starting their own colonies in the spring.

The way many beekeepers poison the yellow jacket colonies is as follows:

In a small plastic dish or bowl a thin layer of ground beef is laid out all over the bottom (separate the strands of meat as much as possible so that the insects can have easy access to it).  Then a commercially available flea & tic-control substance such as Frontline (available from vets or pet supply outlets) is dripped over all the meat. The meat is then set out in a place where it can be clearly observed and supervised.

IMPORTANT!  THE MEAT IS NEVER LEFT UNATTENDED IN A PLACE WHERE PETS OR SMALL CHILDREN CAN GET TO IT!!!

Two solutions that reduce the risk of accidental poising of pets or children (but are not an alternative to full-time supervision of the process):

1.  The poisoned meat can be placed in a closed bird cage.  So long as the door is securely closed, only insects can go in and out. 

2.  The poisoned meat can be placed under an inverted laundry hamper (the kind that has big holes in it).  Again, so long as the hamper remains in place, nothing but insects can gain access to the meat.

The poisoned meat will only remain in place for a couple of hours.  It is not necessary for the yellow jackets to consume all of the meat.  Once yellow jackets have been observed feasting on the meat for an hour or two, it should be thrown away in a sealed receptacle where no animals or humans can gain access to it!

As I mentioned earlier, this is the time to act if one intends to reduce the yellow jacket population in their area during the late summer and early fall... whether to protect a beehive or simply to reduce the yellow jacket population for reasons of comfort.

Disclaimer: The contents of this post are for informational purposes only.  This is not intended as an endorsement or encouragement to use any substance or product in a manner for which it was not originally intended. Anyone who uses a pesticide or poison in a manner other than that for which it was specifically intended does so at his/her own risk!