hornets nest

[peteinwilts]

Hi Guys

I checked one of my swarm boxes last night and have found Hornets living in there. This particular box is quite low down at hedgerow height so is quite easy to examine.

Whenever I have found a Hornet picking off bees near the hive, I have just hit them into the next field. Even when hit hard, they get back up (tough little critters!)
I have not seen any hornets in my nearby apiary, so are probably eating other insects.

I am not particularly a fan of them, but I have always had a live and let live policy... they leave me alone, I leave them alone.

They have reduced the entrance to the swarm box, and 'presume' they must have built something in there. Most of the time there is one by the front door and I can see it's head turning as it watches me go past (which is quite disconcerting!)

My question is, do I leave them to finish their lifecycle or do I destroy them?? (or leave them till winter, then destroy the nest!)
If they were wasps, there would be no question!

Cheers
Pete

 

[tonybloke]

I'd leave them. they build a paper nest, btw.
most of the time they leave bees alone, preferring to predate on wasps nests.

 

[melon]

I don't think you are meant to kill hornets, but they are horrible, especially when they are invading the bees space. Last year I'd see hornets being chased off by 3 or 4 bees, clinging on to them. I understand that their stings are not very pleasant either. I feel though that 1 hornets nest this year could be 15 perhaps next year, depending on how many queens they make. Ant powder is good for wasps nests if they are a problem, so I assume it would work for hornets, but you don't really want to contaminate a nuc box with pesticide.

 

[tonybloke]

I feel though that 1 hornets nest this year could be 15 perhaps next year,

not a chance! if that was the case, the world would be over-run by them!
most colonies are lucky if they manage to get one queen to survive and re-populate next season. they have been declining in numbers for years, due to loss of habitat.

 

[Swarm]

I thought they were protected? Anyway I fully agree with Tonybloke, they need all the help they can get.

 

[zubzub]

 

[hedgerow pete]

no hornets are not protected. why do people think every thing is protected ?

must be a townie thing, if you live in the country side you should be used to blasting any thing with shot guns, lol

hornets will predate on a bee hive if its avalible to them.
the way it works is they fly around the outside of the nest ( bee or wasp) and as the bees/wasps come out to deffend they then get cut in half my the hornets, untill everyone is dead or almost

there after they then remove all the grubs from the nest as a food source , they do like the sweetness of honey but only as a treat is the grubs they are after not the honey.

why do they normal go for wasps, thats easy its because wasps dont like inside a big wooden box with a small opening to it and they can also easily rip the paper of a wasps nest apart to gain access to the grubs

 

[Chris Luck]

the way it works is they fly around the outside of the nest ( bee or wasp) and as the bees/wasps come out to deffend they then get cut in half my the hornets, untill everyone is dead or almost

Oh boy, what have you been reading, that is completely and utterly false, they do no such thing.

As I have said soooooo many times, I have loads of Hornets nesting in proximity to my hives every year, this year two colonies within 50 metres, no problem except for the occasional bee taken in front of a hive.

BTW. They are protected in Germany.

Chris, not a towny.

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

Oh boy, what have you been reading, that is completely and utterly false, they do no such thing.

As I have said soooooo many times, I have loads of Hornets nesting in proximity to my hives every year, this year two colonies within 50 metres, no problem except for the occasional bee taken in front of a hive.

BTW. They are protected in Germany.

Chris, not a towny.

Funnily enough Chris, related to this and the scaremongering over honeybee decline, we had a friend in France tell us how the Asian hornet was expected to wipe out all French bees in the next couple of years!

 

[Dishmop]

we had a friend in France tell us how the Asian hornet was expected to wipe out all French bees in the next couple of years!

Rather like varroa and CCD then.

 

[drstitson]

a few weeks back i heard some loud scratching at the loft hatch. thinking it was a ghiro or another rodent. i got together the necessary equipment to deal with it. Took a look at the hatch edge and spotted ?rodent teeth. waited a while longer and could then clearly see large insect appendages. carefully opened the hatch a crack to let the culprit edge forward a little more and found it was a hornet (european - we have loads who love feeding on bees at the hive entrance or when dining on fig juice). squashed it between hatch and frame.

 

[Luminos]

If I might add my two pennorth - yesterday, two Asian hornets took a bee each at the hive entrance (in flight, as it were), and this morning a European hornet took a bee in the same manner.
They carry their prey up into a nearby eucalyptus to dismember.

I have three wasp traps beside the hive, but it's not working for hornets, as, I assume, they are after "meat" and not beer/raspberry jam.

I've been able to tread on a couple whilst they are near the ground with the weight of the bee. Of course this means sacrificing a bee as well.
Bit tricky whilst wearing flip-flops

I am getting quite concerned since it does not seem to be that rare an occurrence. When can we expect the hornets to stop? September?

 

[Luminos]

a few weeks back i heard some loud scratching at the loft hatch. thinking it was a ghiro or another rodent. i got together the necessary equipment to deal with it. Took a look at the hatch edge and spotted ?rodent teeth. waited a while longer and could then clearly see large insect appendages. carefully opened the hatch a crack to let the culprit edge forward a little more and found it was a hornet (european - we have loads who love feeding on bees at the hive entrance or when dining on fig juice). squashed it between hatch and frame.

...what's a ghiro? Is this a Lincolnshire thing?

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

...what's a ghiro? Is this a Lincolnshire thing?

Its a posh version of a weekly cheque from the government I think

 

[Chris Luck]

The issue as with just about everything is sorting the fact from the fiction, the reality from the speculation and the truth from down right lies...

....and of course the rare exception that breaks the rules.

For me the Asian Hornet issue is still on hold, they have been in my area since 2007, possibly earlier, but so far I have seen very few each year in my apiaries. So few that it doesn't really warrant any more than a tick in the "observed" box.

To be of concern you would need to see a constant presence of 4 or 5 in front of a colony all day long - as one catches a bee and flies away it is replaced by another and so on. For this to happen would require a very large A. Hornet colony very close by, probably less than 1km and for them to home in on one colony day after day after day. It isn't so much the predation as the prevention of pollen entering the hive that starts the decline because it is the slow moving pollen gatherers that are grabbed leading to a slow down and eventual stopping of the Queen laying eggs. If it was simply predation it would take a very long time to kill 50,000 bees.

One more point, when a bee is killed it is taken back to the Hornet nest, they don't just keep killing bees and dropping them on the ground - there would be no purpose in that.

Chris

 

[MartinL]

Enemy of an Enemy, could be a friend?

Hi Guys
My question is, do I leave them to finish their lifecycle or do I destroy them?? (or leave them till winter, then destroy the nest!)
If they were wasps, there would be no question!

Cheers
Pete

Could you move them so they are close to a wasp nest?
Bit of a double edged sword!

 

[drstitson]

"what's a ghiro?" one of these:

 

[Chris Luck]

Huh, no shortage of those here either, my house is full of them screeching in the night. Lérot, (Garden Dormouse), as well.

http://www.planetepassion.eu/MAMMALS-IN-FRANCE/Edible-or-Fatty-dormouse-France.html

Chris

 

[rink123]

Well I dont like Hornets nor Wasps, I like Bees .[ame]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=R5QxUR-mZVM[/ame]

 

[Luminos]

Is it being taken for a walk? why is the cord around its waist?