I thought my battle with the hornets was over. Not so !! I've tried yellow jacket traps, poisoned cat food in protective containers, and closing up the one hive that seems to be their target. The yellow jacket traps and cat food worked, but there were too many of them I guess.
After sealing off the one hive again last night, I came back to the hive with a fly swatter and mean look in my eye. I returned three times and must of killed a good 75 hornets. It must of been a funny sight to see...... some ole fool, swatting hornets attacking a bee hive. In the course to doing combat I got stung on the ear by one of the hornets and managed to temporarily lose a hearing aid. After finding the hearing aid, I returned to the battle. Right now, I'm licking my wounds and thinking about tomorrow's skirmish. My wife is getting a big laugh out of my heroics.
I've found that by sealing off the hive, I end up trapping hornets in the hive. I've been able to swat them when they exit, during those periods when I open the hive. I want to take the hive apart and inspect it, but I'm worried that I'll just make things worse. I'm also worried that I may have quite a few hornets trapped in the hive.
My other hives are doing just fine. No hornets at all. My hives are close together so this doesn't make sense, unless this one hive just doesn't protect itself. I will be harvesting honey in the next two weeks, so I'll know what damages have been done then.
If you have any other ideas, I'd be glad to try them. While the fly swatter works, my poor ears can't keep taking this kind of lick en.
Regards,
Tucker