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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Jenny Barwick <jennybarwick AT gmail.com>
  • To: Elizabeth Pratson <elizabeth.pratson AT att.net>
  • Cc: NC Beekeepers Orange County <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] Bee traps
  • Date: Fri, 10 Aug 2012 06:55:31 -0400

Elizabeth, I agree this presents a problem.  I have used this type of trap myself,not for honeybees but in years when yellowjackets are particularly numerous (in late summer, when they stop concentrating on hunting protein and enter their sugar eating phase).  I don't recall ever finding a bee in mine, only yellowjackets. Of course, bees would find them if bees were foraging heavily nearby.  If the traps were the only source of sugar in an area, the number of honeybees trapped would likely be very small because if a scout found it, it would probably not make it back to the hive to alert other bees to come.  The trash cans around outdoor vendors are usually the huge magnets, I have noticed on many occasions. One solution might be to try to provide another  more attractive source of sugar away from the vendors, who do have a right to make their places of business safe and attractive for themselves and their customers. Putting traps in the gardens does sound self-defeating. Seems the garden areas would be the best potential attractants to keep bees at some distance from people.  Keeping the trashcans at an optimal distance, emptied and washed down could help a lot.  It might be more effective to approach the management in a spirit of trying to meet multiple goals and reconcile interests. Tough problem, though. Does anyone here have other ideas about how this could be worked out? Could be a very interesting experiment in new ways to accommodate the interests of both bees and people.

On Thu, Aug 9, 2012 at 9:13 PM, Elizabeth Pratson <elizabeth.pratson AT att.net> wrote:
I was at Tangler Outlets today and saw that they had bee traps set up in the small gardens around the outlet mall.  The one near an outdoor Italian Icy stand was loaded with dead honey bees.  I told the attendant that I thought that this should be illegal and explained how the honey bees are endangered. She explained to me that the bees were being pests, and scaring away her customers.  I wanted to run around the outlet and take all these traps down and put them in the trash, but I was with my children....however may go up later this week on my own.   I was wondering if anybody else had ever seen these traps being used before - they are horrible!
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--
Jenny


  • [ocba] Bee traps, Elizabeth Pratson, 08/09/2012
    • Re: [ocba] Bee traps, Jenny Barwick, 08/10/2012

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