Hornets killed a nuc

[Oli]

I've got two hives in the garden at home. One was a nuc from early August which somehow managed to lose their queen and requeened themselves late August. I should have admitted defeat with them at that time and merged them back in with the main hive but didn't!

They're in a 14x12 brood box with boards either side of the nuc's to restrict the area they are trying to keep warm. The entrance is greatly reduced. I started feeding them just under a week ago and when I opened the hive today I was greeted by quite a few hornets at the top of the hive around the feeder and no sign of bees (although I did put the roof back on fast). There was no sign of bees flying out of the hive, I blocked the entrance off and will kill the hornets tomorrow.

I didn't think the entrance was big enough for hornets to get in but they've proved me wrong!

Any help on finding hornets nests is greatly appreciated as is any other advice to what I could have done differently

 

[drstitson]

you mean they're up in the roof space?

 

[Oli]

I didn't explain that very well, the feeder is sat ontop of the brood frames and the hornets are all in the brood box where the brood was a week ago; they all came upwards when I lifted the lid then crown board on the top of the hive.

 

[drstitson]

true hornets (vespa crabro) or are you using the term in it's vernacular sense - ie to mean any yellow and black shiny spiteful stingy insect?

 

[Oli]

I wouldn't have known the latin name but yes, true hornets

 

[For want of a better word]

Were the hornets responsible for the colonie's demise... or did the colony dwine away and dwindle... get robbed out and then the vespas and hornits move in for the coupe de grace?

 

[Oli]

The colony was doing okay last week, just a bit lower on stores than I would have liked, I believe the hornets have killed them

 

[richardbees]

Bucklebury - sure they're not paparazzi?

From what I've seen on Youtube it's highly likely the hornets did kill them and I can only suggest you reduce the entrance on your remaining hives.

Good luck tracking them down - are the local Council/Pest Control interested in hornets?

 

[Oli]

Bucklebury - sure they're not paparazzi?

From what I've seen on Youtube it's highly likely the hornets did kill them and I can only suggest you reduce the entrance on your remaining hives.

Good luck tracking them down - are the local Council/Pest Control interested in hornets?

I doubt the local council are interested in anything going by past experiences! There's still a few I've trapped in the hive so I'll try letting them go one at a time and following them, my garden backs onto 800acres of woodland so it might be a challenge!

 

[drstitson]

hornets are quite big and can carry off bees etc. why not glue a piece of white ribbon to the back of a couple before release?

 

[peteinwilts]

we have a couple of local colony's of European Hornets and apart from taking the odd bee, have not done any harm.

I have not seen them around in numbers for a couple of weeks...

Got any photos?

 

[Oli]

I'll try to take some photos tomorrow, still got a couple trapped in the hive, they're quite feisty so i'm not sure I fancy trying to glue ribbon to one but might get brave!

 

[Bee Bumble]

We get hornets in our garden, they rarely take any of our bees and never sting us. If I catch them in the jam traps I let them go. I think they are magnificent.

 

[TOBY-3652]

all the hornets i have had to deal with were in holes in trees.. thats were i would start looking

 

[Barbarian]

For future occasions you might like to use a tunnel type of reduced entrance .... easier to defend.

I haven't had a problem with hornets but in the past used a 3" length of garden hose as an entrance.

Come on lads ..... is this suggestion a load of rubbish ?

 

[HM Honey]

From what I've read on european Hornets, I would be suprised if they are responsible for wiping out your nuc? Below is a piece from a website on them:

The main food of the hornets is approximately 90% flies, and only occasionally bees. Bee scientists state that the effect of hornets on bee hives is negligible. The daily catch from the beginning of June approx. is about 10-15 bees per worker, because only some hornets go to hunt bees.

At this time a fully developed bee colony faces this predation with approx. 50,000 animals. If one considers the high laying rate of a queen bee, the number of bees emerging are in the region of 1,500-3,000 per day. Hence, the loss of bees is really relatively small (< 1%) for a healthy hive and no real threat.

In addition, the bees killed at this time are not those which will go on to form the overwintering stock. Indeed, loss through weather and other causes (for example pesticide, herbicides, Varroa mite, traffic) are likely to have much more effect.


Please put it to the test! Allow hornets to live near your hives. Some beekeepers even encourage hornets and erect a box near their hives because, as night-active hunters, hornets reduce infestation of the more damaging wax moth! Additionally, hornets hold a type of peace near their nest, they don’t seem to hunt in the immediate vicinity. A nest provides fascinating observation possibilities of these beautiful black-yellow creatures rewarding you for the decision to set up a hornet box!.

 

[Luminos]

Hornets in my garden are keenly hunting Cox's Orange Pippins at the moment

 

[Oli]

all the hornets i have had to deal with were in holes in trees.. thats were i would start looking

There have been hornets coming and going all day looking for the now empty hive which the nuc was in which I moved this morning, they all came slightly different routes but from a similar direction. The problem is I live in the middle of 800 acres of common land, most of which is woodland. If hornets fly as far as Bees than I dread to imagine how many trees are in range!

Photos attached, one taken through a queen excluder as i'm not brave enough to argue with an angry hornet who doesn't want its photo taken!

 

[drstitson]

love the old-style vignetting!!!!

"Hornets in my garden are keenly hunting Cox's Orange Pippins at the moment"

ours hunt bees and flies on the ivy and fig bottoms.

 

[itma]

They're in a 14x12 brood box with boards either side of the nuc's to restrict the area they are trying to keep warm. The entrance is greatly reduced. I started feeding them just under a week ago and when I opened the hive today I was greeted by quite a few hornets at the top of the hive around the feeder and no sign of bees ...

Any help on finding hornets nests is greatly appreciated as is any other advice to what I could have done differently

Differently.
I don't like the idea of dummying down both sides and then putting another box on top surrounding a contact feeder placed on the topbars -- as shown in your photos and mentioned in your other post

... the feeder is sat ontop of the brood frames and the hornets ... all came upwards when I lifted the lid then crown board on the top of the hive.

.
You ARE giving them a vast and un-necessary volume to warm (or rather, keep the bees cool.)
I'm happy to reduce the entrance to one bee at a time for a small colony.
And, with frames 'warm way', keep the brood area well up against the front of the hive - right above the entrance.
Derekm will tell you that 'dummy boards' for dummying down need to seal against the cover/crown board otherwise the heat escapes really easily.
Here, they are several inches short of the coverboard...
One thing that would be needed would be a feeder board - a coverboard with a hole.

And I do rather wonder whether leakage from the contact feeder might have been what attracted the attention of the marauders in the first place ... otherwise, I can't help regarding hornets (not had the pleasure, yet.)

But anyway, I think this lot would have been happier (and safer) in a poly nuc.