# General beekeeping > Starting out >  Waspkeeping

## Kieth

Hello all, I am new to the word of bee keeping and have some questions, specifically regarding the keeping of wasps. It appears waspkeeping is still not as popular as beekeeping, however a new generation of waspkeepers are bringing this hobby to the mainstream. I was unable to find a forum specifically for waspkeepers and hope you will be able to help me. 

I would like to know if waspkeeping is similar to beekeeping; do wasps live in those white boxes bees live in? Do wasps produce an equivalent of honey or beeswax and if so how do I harvest this?

Many thanks

Keith

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## The Drone Ranger

Wasps like a nice diet of caterpillar early in the year and sugary things in the Autumn
The best place to keep them is in your loft that way they can visit you all over the house
Wasps are a bit keener to sting so if you have arthritis you will be quids in
Also wasps don't leave their sting in you, so they can always pop back and sting you again later if you like
Wood wasps are a type of hornet. they get very large. and like pine logs to lay their eggs 
If you want to attract them buy a nice saw and chop down a few pine trees
Don't get stung by these though, or arthritis will be the least of your worries
You wont get any bees wax from wasps but they produce big paper nests which some artists will buy
Alternatively they light the fire very well indeed
Wasp honey and rocking horse droppings make popular breakfast cereal called CoCo Pops but the recipe is a secret
Wasp boxes don't have to be white and neither do beehives that myth came from the Wizard of OZ film starring Judy Garland
That was a very good film for anyone who is considering how to live in a fantasy world 
Anyway I digress 
Best of luck with the Wasps Keith they can often be trained to come to a jar of jam which might help get you started

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## lindsay s

Hi Keith
After picking myself up off the floor and checking it’s not the 1st of April I’ll suggest you do a few internet searches on wasps and their lifecycles. The only thing you will harvest from wasps is their stings  :Mad:  and the wrath of your neighbourhood. Let us know how you get on.

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## The Drone Ranger

> Hi Keith
> After picking myself off the floor and checking it’s not the 1st of April I’ll suggest you do a few internet searches on wasps and their lifecycles. The only thing you will harvest from wasps is their stings  and the wrath of your neighbourhood. Let us know how you get on.


I thought I had covered it Lindsey but your right it's a huge subject, commercial wasp keeping

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## fatshark

Wasps are for wimps.

Grow a pair and keep hornets.

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## Jon

> they produce big paper nests which some artists will buy


Kinda like a poor man's sun hive/dung hive.
There is good potential here for running courses and maybe penning a barefoot waspkeeper book.
Damned good idea. Some people have made a decent living out of stuff like this.
Get the jam jars primed.

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## The Drone Ranger

I now sell the following items in season

wasps     50p each
hornets   70p
bees       35p

Mixed bag of bees,wasps and hornets £3-00
(guaranteed not less than 3 hornets per bag)
special offer 10 free ants with every order for a limited period only!!

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## Jon

Have you any queens?
Preferably local stock with the right wing venation.
I think my nest has gone queenless as I have an itchy trigger finger and have killed about 20 in the garden in recent weeks.

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## The Drone Ranger

> Have you any queens?
> Preferably local stock with the right wing venation.
> I think my nest has gone queenless as I have an itchy trigger finger and have killed about 20 in the garden in recent weeks.


Sadly no I do have a number of large ants which might fit with the queen wing parts you have in stock

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## Jon

If I was in the market for a large ant I would be posting on a large ant forum.

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## The Drone Ranger

> If I was in the market for a large ant I would be posting on a large ant forum.


I'm afraid we have lost sight of the original posters very important question
One of my 3 queens stopped developing at the fully formed stage where they are still all white, what causes that any ideas 
Please don't say death I had already thought of that one

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## Jon

Chilling would be my best guess. I see that quite a bit where they develop to the white stage. I would guess about 3-4 days from emergence. Virus can affect queen development as well

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## gavin

Oooo ... I'm missing all the fun! 

Suspended animation I'd say.  That lesser known trait in both native honeybees and wasps (technically: convergent evolution), an adaptation to help cope with a variable climate.

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## gavin

Dear Kieth

I could never take a man seriously if he can't spell his own name correctly.

Givan

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## The Drone Ranger

> Oooo ... I'm missing all the fun! 
> 
> Suspended animation I'd say.  That lesser known trait in both native honeybees and wasps (technically: convergent evolution), an adaptation to help cope with a variable climate.


Sorry Gavin
I think Jon might be closer to the mark in this case no wonder the experts on here are raising big batches at a time 
I only had three sealed out of five and one was a dead duck 
anybody tried the Hopkins method I have pellets book but here's a web link for the curious
http://www.beesource.com/point-of-vi...queen-rearing/
P.s. might not be successful with wasps

By the way that's good point  Givan spelling is an important skil

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## brothermoo

> anybody tried the Hopkins method I have pellets book but here's a web link for the curious
> http://www.beesource.com/point-of-vi...queen-rearing/


I was emailing back and forth with a guy who does this in cork.. I think it could work just as well using a queenright cell raising colony as per Ben harden method, just set the little eke with horizontal frame over the top box. Some insulating material above the crownboard might be advisable if temperature isn't that high because the cells aren't in between other brood frames.

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## gavin

> I only had three sealed out of five and one was a dead duck l


Now that is a remarkable achievement.

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## Jon

Hornets, big ants and mallards from Scotland's most esoteric beekeeper.

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## Neils

> Dear Kieth
> 
> I could never take a man seriously if he can't spell his own name correctly.
> 
> Givan


Though there is already a "Keith" on the forum and you can't have two  :Smile:

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## The Drone Ranger

Jon
Everybody does it haven't you heard queens quacking to one another

Brothermoo thanks for the tips I need to get a frame of new wax laid up by my best queen 
If that works out I will have a go

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## drumgerry

Maybe "Kieth" is a phonetic spelling?  As in "Ere Kieth we've run out of Typhoo teabags" (say it in your best Mick Jagger from Stella Street).

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## lindsay s

I dont think we should be too hard on Keith. Most of the people I know think bumble bees are honey bees and that honey bees are wasps, goodness knows what they think wasps are! Dont dare anybody reply that I only know daft people.
 Lindsey  Linzi  Lyndsey  Lynsey  Lindsay  :Confused:

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## SteveW316

I think we've frightened him away.....I think we should make room for Waspism, in the of name of Equality  (Sounding like the SNP now!!)

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## Mellifera Crofter

As I cleared the grasses from under a hive today I found a beautiful wasp nest full of eggs.  I even saw the queen.  Had I remembered about KIEth's interest in wasp-keeping, I might have been able to provide him with a nucleus wasp hive.  Unfortunately, I only thought about my bees' well-being and quickly stepped on it.  Sorry KIEth.
Kitta

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## The Drone Ranger

Kitta

The RSPCW have been informed 
Poor Kieth how must he be feeling ?
How many caterpillars are going to escape justice now the wasps have gone ?
P.s. you must trust your footware

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## SteveW316

> As I cleared the grasses from under a hive today I found a beautiful wasp nest full of eggs.  I even saw the queen.  Had I remembered about KIEth's interest in wasp-keeping, I might have been able to provide him with a nucleus wasp hive.  Unfortunately, I only thought about my bees' well-being and quickly stepped on it.  Sorry KIEth.
> Kitta


Shame, I hear wasp NUCs are selling for sky high prices this year?

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## lindsay s

> As I cleared the grasses from under a hive today I found a beautiful wasp nest full of eggs.  I even saw the queen.  Had I remembered about KIEth's interest in wasp-keeping, I might have been able to provide him with a nucleus wasp hive.  Unfortunately, I only thought about my bees' well-being and quickly stepped on it.  Sorry KIEth.
> Kitta


Heres a link to the plight our friends the wasps are facing. http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/magazine-23356578 
I hope you are now feeling very guilty Kitta.

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## Neils

Wasps I can cope with it's bloody clothes moths.

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## wee willy

Buy synthetic  :Big Grin: 
WW 


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## fatshark

This thread is nearly a year old and I'm delighted to report I have a laying queen *wasp*. The advantage for *bee*keepers is that the system I have developed requires the use of standard equipment and very similar management techniques to those already employed.

Make a big stack of spare 'stuff' in an out of the way corner. Ignore it for weeks or months until you can't find the Horsley board*. Take the stack apart and - if you're lucky - you'll have a laying queen wasp in residence.

You can just see the developing larvae in the second photo.

Next  *wasp*grafting.

20140513-0010.jpg 20140513-0011.jpg

Please note, I've only tried this with National equipment. I'm hoping I can extend the technique to work with Langstroths and am looking for sponsorship from Mann Lake.

* doesn't have to be a Horsley board. It can be any relatively obscure board or cover, built during the long dark winter nights.

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## gavin

> Next … *wasp*grafting.


Now you're talking!  Is there even the slightest chance that a young wasp would thrive on the stuff a honeybee would feed them?  Could we breed cooperative wasps, wasps that smell like bees, vegetarian wasps that fight off other wasps attacking the colony later?  Would they be hornet-sized due to the warmer conditions (I suppose) and sweeter nutrition (guessing again, I've never tasted wasp grub food) and maybe even capable of taking on Asian hornets?  Could there be a research grant in this?

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## fatshark

I like your way of thinking Gavin  but first we must secure the domain name. Nothing worse than coming up with a fantastic new venture to find that some upstart (probably Kieth - he's been very quiet recently) scoops you. 

I've been doing some research (for once)

Domain_Search_Results.jpg

As an aside  I really thought I'd hit the big time yesterday. I took the roof off a cell raiser and a massive hornet flew off. It must have worked up from the entrance, through the double brood box and two packed supers.

Hornetkeeping.com is also available I think.

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## Bridget

The wasps had set up home in the our bee house, cheeky blighters.  


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## Bumble

> Make a big stack of spare 'stuff' in an out of the way corner. Ignore it for weeks or months until you can't find the Horsley board*. Take the stack apart and - if you're lucky - you'll have a laying queen wasp in residence.


As with all schemes and plans, this one might have a slight flaw.

I made a big, but untidy, stack of spare 'stuff' in an out of the way corner and ignored it while everywhere around it was flooded. When I took the stack apart a couple of weeks ago I found a family of mice.

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## fatshark

Saw this on BKF  made me chuckle

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## prakel

> Saw this on BKF … made me chuckle


You chuckled at that? Shame on you, you'll get us invaded by the bully-boys who found it so objectionable over there!!

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## gavin

Little update on this topic ..... doing the rounds, ahem, yesterday ....

http://www.greatbritishfoodmagazine....dont-bee-lieve

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## fatshark

What an entrepreneur Kieth turned out to be ...

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## mbc

That's outragious, everybody knows wasp honey is no good as it's bitter and stripey.

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## alclosier

I heard it had a real sting in it...

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