Do wasps bully bees?

[scrimper]

When I built my workshop I made a special box for the birds under the eaves but earlier this year I noticed that bumble bees (small ones) had taken it on, they have been active for some time but then in the last week or so wasps are busily going in and out, does this mean that the wasps have taken over and ejected the bees or would the bees have just finished and moved on?

Would wasps be dominant over bees is really what I am asking?

It's the second year that bees have made their nest in my workshop roof and do like to see them there.

[Hedera]

They certainly do! They will raid beehives also, and sometimes if the colony is weak, take over. As they are carnivorous they will eat the developing larvae as well as the stored honey and pollen. It's a pity they supplanted your bumblebees: it's early for those to have finished their breeding season.

[triops]

Just a reminder about bumblebees: They don't "move on" and small bees will be workers. The nest is started in the spring by a single queen, obvious by her large size. Workers take over the running of the nest until later in the year they produce queens and males. Males fertilise queens and soon die, and fertile queens hibernate until next spring, when the system starts again.

[Dorts]

Wasps are real hunters. The feed their larvae on insects, especially flies. I've seen them catch flies in mid-air, (like a Sparrow Hawk catching a Sparrow), take the fly to the ground, remove it's wings, to immobilise it, and carry it off back to the nest; and all this happens in a flash.
So they would have no problem with a few Bumble Bees!
Dorts

[scrimper]

Thanks for the replies, so it appears that the wasps have kicked the bees out, that's a shame.

[shadowx]

I was walking through epping forest last year actually and saw a bundle insecty legs on the floor going mad, on closer inspection it was a wasp fighting with a daddy long legs spider (Im sure there is a latin name somewhere....) trying to get it's stinger into the spider's body and of course the spider trying to get it off, after a minute or two the spider stopped moving and the wasp carried it off into the trees. Was fairly interesting to watch to be honest.

[STYRBJORN]

Originally Posted by shadowx

I was walking through epping forest last year actually and saw a bundle insecty legs on the floor going mad, on closer inspection it was a wasp fighting with a

Im sure there is a latin name somewhere....) trying to get it's stinger into the spider's body and of course the spider trying to get it off, after a minute or two the spider stopped moving and the wasp carried it off into the trees. Was fairly interesting to watch to be honest.

Harvestman?

[shadowx]

Google images seems to suggest you're right!

All i know is it has unnaturally long legs and looks like a walking horror movie!

[Sidrah]

Yes, Wasps can and will rob honey from your hives but will also eat your bees. They have tough sharp mouth parts that can cut a bee in half. They carry the poor bee back to their nest and offer this to the wasp larva, who in turn produce a sugar substance that the foragers are addicted to. It is due to this relationship that wasps must stay on the move, as they rely on this larva food secretion to survive.