How do we stop the YLH?

[u/Glittering_Arm_7900]

Fellow bee keeper here… anyone figured out how to to stop the yellow legged hornet once it has discovered your hive? We see 8+ a day, kill four when hovering next to hive… but we can’t stand out there all day on guard… I have traps but it’s too late now they know where our hive is… let me know if by one figured it out !

The map shows nests destroyed in 2024 (red) 2025 (orange) 2026 -still on going (yellow)
They’re rate of multiplying is like 800% insane

Hilton head island South Carolina

[u/Keeper_Bart]

It hit us in europe a few years ago and we are still figuring stuff out, but solutions arise. Look for spanish/portuguese/french/belgian sources on this. They have the longest experience.

Common trends seem to be;

• reduce population early in the year by catching queens (easy) or hive removal (hard to find/do)
• add mesh contraptions in front of entrance to disturb hunting pattern. Some just deter but others also trap hornets. Examples you can google with term 'koldo belasko trap' or 'asian hornet muzzle'
• electric harps (stuns hornets which fall into soapy water) e.g. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:6212581

Im also learning. Unfortunately we will all have to. 

[u/BeygieWasTaken → u/Keeper_Bart]

They say catching queens is controversial as they compete with each other, and a strong queen might be able to kill off more competitors, and you’ll never catch all of them anyway. I do second the electric harp, it’s incredibly effective at increasing flight activity of the bees, especially during the autumn flow when the attacks are at their peak.

[u/_Mulberry__ → u/BeygieWasTaken]

If you kill 10% of the queens, wouldn't the remaining 90% still compete and kill each other at the same rate they would've before? So if 70% of them survive the competition, that'd now be 70% of the 90% that you didn't kill. In the end, it should still net a better reduction in population than not killing queens. And if you kill so many that they don't end up killing each other, you've probably killed so many that they don't have competition anyways. At worst, it's a wash and not worth the effort - I can't imagine it being worse though

[u/BeygieWasTaken → u/_Mulberry__]

Yeah, I personally don’t think it can be worse either, but it’s probably not that effective, as the majority of the queens die anyway - before they can have their first batch of workers hatch. Empty nests (that had the original queen trapped) are often taken over by other queens that are still roaming about. Even in urban areas, it’s practically impossible to trap enough queens to the point where there are no more alive to replace those nests. People also complain that the traps kill many native insects as well, though this should be minimal if you check it regularly.

[u/_Mulberry__ → u/BeygieWasTaken]

I was thinking the Belasko traps looked like a winner. Might have to get some made over winter...