Check out these photos of Honey Bees, Wasps and Wool Carder Bees
The common wasps we see in our gardens are a big threat to Honey Bees and Monarch Butterflies. They will attack a bee hive, steal the honey, eat the bee eggs & larvae and kill the bees.
It takes up to 5 honeybees to kill one wasp. So get rid of wasps whenever you can.
Wasps will die out over the winter except for the Queen wasp. She will hibernate and wake in spring looking for a nest. She is bigger than a normal wasp, so if you see a large wasp make sure you kill it. Excellent article on wasps and how to eliminate them. Also check out this Waikato area Wasp Fact Sheet.
The size of a wasp nest will increase through Summer and reach their peak size in Autumn - they can reach the size of a beach ball containing up to 5000 wasps...
Wasp Bait & Traps Links
Need someone to take care of your wasp problem for you?
Check out SWAT Pest Control
www.swatpestcontrol.co.nz
Another new threat to the honeybee is the wool carder bee. This bee is relatively new to New Zealand. It was first discovered in Napier and Nelson in 2006 and since there have been sightings of this bee in Auckland and in the Waikato.
The wool carder bee is a solitary bee about the size of a honeybee. The female is usually seen foraging but can be seen ‘carding’ fibers from plants to use as nest material - hence the name. It is very visible with its bright yellow colour. The male wool carder bee is extremely territorial and will defend the floral resources by attacking the visiting honeybees. The males have 5 sharp spines on their abdomen that are used to attack.
