I have Bald Faced Hornets harassing my bees. A couple weeks ago I saw one swoop down and snatch a bee from the hive. Another one entered the hive. A short time later, a dead hornet was carried out by several honeybees. :lol: They attempted to fly off with it but weren’t able to get it to far away. I see the hornets flying around occasionally and there’s no doubt they’re doing another snatch and grab run. From what I’ve read, dead ones attract more hornets. I guess the bees knew that already since they tried to fly it out of the area. Every couple days I see another dead one on the ground.
If I could find the nest, I think I would take the 12 guage out and give them some good ventalation. :-\
I built a couple homemade traps and hung them in the trees away from the hive.
2 liter plastic soda bottle
Drill a 1 inch hole just below the slope on the neck
Add: 1 cup water, 1 cup sugar, 1 half cup vinegar, 1 banana peel
One has caught at least 30 bald faced hornets and a couple European hornets …the other mostly moths. Hornets/moths, kill em all!
Apparently the best time to deal with these hornets is in the spring when the hornet queens are out and about, starting new nests. Kill the new queens and eliminate the problem before it starts. I’ll be sure to add this to my spring time check list.
Richard