European hornets entering my hives

[Paulypaul]

For 2 months I've had solitary european hornets entering my beehives and staying inside too long for me to hang around and see them exit.
Is this something I should be concerned about?

When they see me coming towards them with a big stick they fly off. Otherwise, they dive head-first in through the hive entrance.

 

[Erichalfbee]

European hornets’ impact on a colony is little in my experience. If those were my bees I might reduce the entrance to make it more easily defended but nothing else.
I have seen hornets take bees but not go into the hive though. Even so the numbers must be small enough to make entrance reduction sufficient

 

[Ian123]

Reduce you entrances for a start, and whilst hornets taking the odd be is of little concern prevention in the first place is the best course of action.

 

[hemo]

One would assume the colonies are weak, as mentioned a reduced entrance or even consider a UFE design which can be found on the forum in the DIY building sub forum.

 

[blackcloud]

The hight of the entrance sounds too much
It only needs to be passable to drones and queens.
EH is a comparatively big beast.

They're a way lot less of a problem than wasps and usually take the minimum they need to survive.

Really not that bad to have around.
Wait for AH before reaching for that stick

 

[ericbeaumont]

should be concerned about

a big stick

Yes, very concerning, and best to abandon that tactic.

 

[Paulypaul]

European hornets’ impact on a colony is little in my experience. If those were my bees I might reduce the entrance to make it more easily defended but nothing else.
I have seen hornets take bees but not go into the hive though. Even so the numbers must be small enough to make entrance reduction sufficient

Thanks.
I don't have a large entrance on my hives. The flow is still on here.
I expect I can reduce the size of this entrance by half.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I expect I can reduce the size of this entrance by half

I wouldn't bother. You have an entrance block in already

 

[Ian123]

That doesn’t look like a busy entrance I’d reduce a half inch on each corner if you’re having issues and more if they continue. Beekeepers appear obsessed with fiddling with the front door bees manage just fine with a minimal entrance even in peak periods!

 

[WalnutTreeBees]

Why is the hive so quiet? Are you sure that you've not got a hornets nest in there?

I would reduce right down to a couple of cm as below. Wasps will rob that out in no time otherwise.

 

[Amari]

For 2 months I've had solitary european hornets entering my beehives and staying inside too long for me to hang around and see them exit.
Is this something I should be concerned about?

When they see me coming towards them with a big stick they fly off. Otherwise, they dive head-first in through the hive entrance.

Have you looked inside the brood box to see if there are hornets within? Worrying if there are several.

 

[Paulypaul]

Have you looked inside the brood box to see if there are hornets within? Worrying if there are several.

I look inside both brood boxes once a week. Neither contains a hornet's nest.

 

[Paulypaul]

Why is the hive so quiet? Are you sure that you've not got a hornets nest in there?

I would reduce right down to a couple of cm as below. Wasps will rob that out in no time otherwise.

Advice followed.
Entrance now 8mm high by 2 bees wide.
This colony has never really produced guard bees.
I hope the congestion this entrance will cause will create a guard bee effect.

 

[Amari]

I look inside both brood boxes once a week. Neither contains a hornet's nest.

I wasn't suggesting a hornets' nest. When wasps invade a weak colony you'll see several wasps on the frames of the BB and the supers (of course, hornets cannot get through the queen excluder to enter the supers).

 

[Sutty]

I wasn't suggesting a hornets' nest. When wasps invade a weak colony you'll see several wasps on the frames of the BB and the supers (of course, hornets cannot get through the queen excluder to enter the supers).

So if hornets were a problem I guess you could put a QE under the bottom box for a few days (bear in mind any drones will be trapped).