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Known as "yellow jackets" in USA The common wasp (Vespa
Vulgaris) and the German wasp (Vespa or Vespula Germanica) are guilty of
much robbing of honey stores in bee hives and are a nuisance in the
autumn when there are few caterpillars for them to feed on.
However traps are simply made using materials that are to
hand.
The drawing at left shows the general idea in cross section.
The container is a screw topped jar (honey jar or the like).
The cone that is soldered into the jar top is a brass
WBC type, but any similar
cone will suffice. I have seen versions that have an "X"
cut in the lid and the resulting four triangles are bent inwards to
form the cone (care should be taken that the critters cannot escape
through the triangular slots that are formed by this method).
The fluid that half fills the jar is nothing more than jam
dissolved in water and serves both as an attractant and as the media
in which the wasps drown.
I am not sure why honey bees are not attracted to the sticky
sweet liquid, but they are not. I can only remember having seen one
bee in such a trap and that was about fifteen years ago.
The picture at right shows a successful catch.
Written... 28 January 2002,
Amended... 18 June 2005,
