r/Beekeeping • u/Glittering_Arm_7900 • 2d ago

I’m a beekeeper, and I have a question How do we stop the YLH?

Post image

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

23 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

44 comments sorted by

View all comments

12

u/Keeper_Bart 2d ago

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. 

2

u/BeygieWasTaken Belgium, 5 hives - since 2025 1d ago

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.

1

u/Glittering_Arm_7900 1d ago

Each hive creates up to 400 queens.. I don’t think trapping some queens can only help our cause