Fortifications

This is the time of year when the queen should start laying less, the number of bees in the colony shrinks and they no longer can collect much honey. So, the perfect time for unwanted intruders and marauders to damage the bees. There have been a number of wasps around and they obviously mean no good whatsoever. So, in an attempt to help the bees protect themselves, I have set up a wasp trap.

The basic trap design

The trap in place by the hives

It's a very simple, but ingenious design: you cut off the top of a 2 litre PET soft drink bottle and turn it upside down so you have a funnel going in, but only a small hole, counter-funnelled, to get out - far too challenging for the average wasp brain (even newts, who are surely higher creatures on the evolutionary scale, fail this basic feat of escapology). To entice the wasps in (and sweeten their death, I suppose), you put jam and water at the bottom of the bottle. This should attract wasps, but not bees. We'll see what the trap holds when next I look.
Probably nothing...

The other measure I took was to install mouse-guards over the hive entrances. With the onset of winter (which we are still far away from, I know), mice start looking for cosy holes, and bee hives seem to be just the ticket. These metal guards prevent the mice entering. As an added bonus, they also make the colony easier to guard, so the bees should give any potential wasp marauders a good stinging run for her money.

Mouse-guard in place