VV Behaviour

[Karol]

This is an interesting clip:

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...BMB16BAgOEHU&usg=AOvVaw1evfljrZXW_p6X2Wa-JTOT

Two important observations.

The first is that VV is predating on honeybees returning to the hive. The honeybees are laiden with nectar and are therefore slower and more prone in flight. Strikes me that any set of obstacles which prevents a direct line of flight or vision would greatly improve the odds for returning honeybees. Here I'm thinking of something like a copse of bamboo sticks planted in front of the hive.

Lay observers would be forgiven for thinking the hornet in the clip is eating the honeybee that it has caught. I don't believe that's the case. Interestingly the hornet is sweet feeding by raiding the nectar in the honeybee's crop. The reason why this is important is that it shows that VV expends significant amounts of energy that it cannot replace simply from the carbohydrates regurgitated from the brood in the nest. It therefore has to feed 'on the job' to be able to sustain its predatory behaviour. Using tools which reduce the hunting success rate of VV at the hive should force VV to look for carbohydrates away from the hive and may offer another strategy for reducing the impact of VV on hives.

 

[Murox]

A fascinating supposition, certainly would be an interesting study/investigation.
If bees were originally woodland edge dwellers there may be some connections.

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

This is an interesting clip:

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...ook much fun for the honey bee either way....

 

[Stiffy]

Didn’t seem to me the hornet let the bee go to me, I think it took off with it .
S

 

[Torq]

Here I'm thinking of something like a copse of bamboo sticks planted in front of the hive.

Bamboo spreads very quickly and forms a dense wall of cane that nothing will get through without a machete. Raspberry canes might be better, very easy to grow, not as densely packed and you get the benefit of the fruit from them.

 

[Chiangmai member]

In Thailand, a few years ago I tried quite a few screening arrangements at the hive entrance. Pot plants, allowing grass to grow, bamboos, netting. All failed for the same reason, VV is a superbly evolved flying machine that is able to maneuver/hover in even the smallest space, a returning honeybee worker laden with pollen or nectar is not. Anything that slows down the returning workers benefits VV. A. cerana which has co-evolved in this part of the world with VV, returns to its colony extremely fast. I was watching a VV earlier this year trying to catch A. cerana workers and after about 10 minutes, it gave up and went elsewhere!

The one partial success that I had last year was making a muzzle over the hive entrances that had vertical wires spaced fairly wide apart, on the outside, which the bees could enter fast, and a second screen inside, with wires spaced much closer, that VV could not hover through. I found that VV only rarely entered the space between the screens and never entered the space between the second screen and the hive entrance. It did not prevent predation completely but as a passive defense, it seemed to work as many of the VV moved to hawking bees from adjacent colonies that did not have the screens arrangement.

This year, I tried a new approach and moved my bees to a new location, (80 km north) at the start of the 'hornet season'. I believe that the VV hornet population around my apiary had increased over the past several years because I had been keeping bees. A local entomologist told me several years ago that VV sightings were rare in Northern Thailand before people started keeping bees in the 1970s. The new site, despite being within 1 km of a large scale beekeeper, who was plagued with hornets, had none! This seemed very strange to us. Could it be that foundresses VV scope out areas in terms of food source before they start a colony?

 

[Plenty of honey]

This is an interesting clip:

https://www.google.co.uk/url?sa=t&s...BMB16BAgOEHU&usg=AOvVaw1evfljrZXW_p6X2Wa-JTOT

Two important observations.

The first is that VV is predating on honeybees returning to the hive. The honeybees are laiden with nectar and are therefore slower and more prone in flight. Strikes me that any set of obstacles which prevents a direct line of flight or vision would greatly improve the odds for returning honeybees. Here I'm thinking of something like a copse of bamboo sticks planted in front of the hive.

Lay observers would be forgiven for thinking the hornet in the clip is eating the honeybee that it has caught. I don't believe that's the case. Interestingly the hornet is sweet feeding by raiding the nectar in the honeybee's crop. The reason why this is important is that it shows that VV expends significant amounts of energy that it cannot replace simply from the carbohydrates regurgitated from the brood in the nest. It therefore has to feed 'on the job' to be able to sustain its predatory behaviour. Using tools which reduce the hunting success rate of VV at the hive should force VV to look for carbohydrates away from the hive and may offer another strategy for reducing the impact of VV on hives.

Its long been known that creating obstructions say about 30 cms in front of the the hive gives returning honey bees some alternative route to re enter the hive. This year I left long grass in front of some of my hives to create a permanent barriers and allow the bees some alternative routes. It does work. However this is only giving the bees some help and in the big picture it really does not make a lot of difference. Similarly, the use of the green doors on the Dadant hives for us here in France hasn't really helped issues. It has stopped hornets entering the hive (in a weak bee hive that is compromised) but it centralises the coming and going of the bees to one small spot, making it even easier for hornets to learn where the returning bees will be aiming for.
As Chiangmai Member said some trials were done with cages. This is exactly the same thing thats now being marketed as as a method of keeping them out of the hive and a little similar to the bases that were for sale as wasp and hornet deterrents. It all moves in the direction that hornets don't like to be cornered of boxed in so the about the structures or indeed long grass etc.

From what we have learned this year, after Asian hornets that became established about 6 years ago, here in `North `Brittany, have some what "Naturalised". They seemed to be less concerned about targeting honey bee colonies, they still do but they seem to be diversifying in their diet and they seem to be changing their nesting position. In many cases nesting close to the ground and not necessarily high up in trees.

Major lesson I learnt this year was expect the very unexpected. As you may have seen, i have recently discovered two nests in very close proximity to each on scrub land just in front of my main queen rearing apiaries. (at home) To be honest during the spring and summer there was less hornets there, than in other apiaries. Never a permanent presence in front of the hives. One or two floating around and i would say over a period of two or three minutes but definitely not the pictures we've been seeing as was the case when the Asian Hornet first made its appearance. Pictures on Social Media of hives decimated are all too often seen in newly invaded areas like very recently Spain etc.


https://youtu.be/xvuAvut9ELU

https://youtu.be/us0mkzcG_HI


The only thing i can comment in their behavioural change was that this year was hot and dry and we had a lot of natural aphids on surrounding trees and plants. We know this because this was the first year in many we has a light summer flow of what the French call "Meillat" know to us as Honey dew honey.
were all learning new thing s about these amazing creature all the time. as much as they are a complete P in the A, you have to admire their diversity.

 

[birdsandbees]

it would make sense that a predator would both locate its nest and time its reproductive season in accordance with the availability of prey, mammalian predators do already.

EDIT - my post appeared after Richards above for some reason so I've chopped out the first bit now

 

[Beefriendly]

https://youtu.be/xvuAvut9ELU

https://youtu.be/us0mkzcG_HI

Moral appears to be strim your bramble patches!

 

[Goran]

https://vespashield.com/solution

 

[Plenty of honey]

Moral appears to be strim your bramble patches!

yes and bang goes your "doing good by leaving the brambles"

 

[Beefriendly]

Is their any good in leaving brambles?
Not a saying I've come across before.
They are a damn nuisance at one of my apiary sites where they had been left growing wild for a few years....now a problem keeping on top of them.
No Asian hornets thought...or at least that we know off.

 

[Plenty of honey]

Is their any good in leaving brambles?
Not a saying I've come across before.
They are a damn nuisance at one of my apiary sites where they had been left growing wild for a few years....now a problem keeping on top of them.
No Asian hornets thought...or at least that we know off.

As far as animals go their terrific nesting places for birds, Black birds,Thrushes and Blackcaps to name but a few, They are brilliant for rodents such as the very rare dormice and lots of vowels and common field mice. Not to mention the fruit and obviously the flowers they produce do give is a lot of nectar in mid May to mid July. We enjoy it because we think without bramble out summer chestnut honey would be pretty unpalatable! it mellows it nicely.
Yes they really area a pain and originally i left this area in front of mu house to be tall grass for my barn owls to hunt in. i will be hacking this back as a bi annual clearance this winter ( or the farmer will lol) there is miles of the stuff all over France. One wonders how many undiscovered nests lie within!

 

[charlievictorbravo]

https://vespashield.com/solution

That's an interesting product but it does not seem to be on the market at the moment - at least, not that I can find.

CVB

 

[steve1958]

Looks similar to the salad box in the bottom of my fridge.
I wonder if the Mrs would notice if I "borrowed" it.

 

[Beefriendly]

As far as animals go their terrific nesting places for birds, Black birds,Thrushes and Blackcaps to name but a few, They are brilliant for rodents such as the very rare dormice and lots of vowels and common field mice. Not to mention the fruit and obviously the flowers they produce do give is a lot of nectar in mid May to mid July. We enjoy it because we think without bramble out summer chestnut honey would be pretty unpalatable! it mellows it nicely.

Okay, Okay I'm convinced
I've been thinking about it wrong. To me it's the stuff that trips you up as you carrying full supers, invades wherever it can. Only thing I know to rip my industrial rubber gloves to shreds... Buggers up my strimmer when I need to control its invasion..(I need a brush cutter!!) and the recent summers have been so dry the fruit has been like dried raisins. Plus I've yet to see my bees feeding on it...not to say they don't; just un-witnessed by me in this area.

 

[Newbeeneil]

That's an interesting product but it does not seem to be on the market at the moment - at least, not that I can find.

CVB

The holes look to be approx 20-30mm....... wouldn't inch chicken wire do the job?

 

[mazzamazda]

Strangely I have always found the opposite works best for me, advice is restricted entrances and long grass, the hornets hover near the entrance well knowing they only have to move a few cm to strike, they often just sit on a landing board near a reduced entrance and wait until a bee comes along, strike.

I find wide open entrances and no obstacles work best for me, this allows the bees to fly full speed into the entrance with some swerving as bees can usually out manouver the hornet 1-1

 

[Goran]

That's an interesting product but it does not seem to be on the market at the moment - at least, not that I can find.

CVB

Strange.. About year ago I talked in person with man who made this and I hold it in my hands ( even one piece was at office of our beekeeping association, but didn't saw it recently). I should search somewhere in my papers, I think the price mentioned was 18 euros.. or 30.. He also make small hive beetle traps. Maybe has problems in finding distributors in Europe..
This way the pressure on the colony isn't so intense and can handle better against VV, at least until traps and playing Novak Djokovic give further relief..

 

[Karol]

Bamboo spreads very quickly and forms a dense wall of cane that nothing will get through without a machete. Raspberry canes might be better, very easy to grow, not as densely packed and you get the benefit of the fruit from them.

Wasn't meaning live bamboo. Sorry for poor use of language. By copse of bamboo sticks I meant to convey a three dimensional obstacle rather than a two dimensional screen the point being not to condense the flight path to give bees multiple points of approach to the hive rather than provide an open field for VV to exploit. I take on board comments from those with direct experience about providing a wider unobstructed entrance for a faster approach. Perhaps an alternative would be an arrangement of radially arranged boards in front of the hive?