I went out to the hive yesterday and took off the 4 gallon top feeder. No bees were taking the sugar/water, only 6 or 8 hornets or yellowjackets. The hornets were going in and out of the two entrances like they owned the place.
Last time I looked at it a couple days ago, there were about 50 drowned hornets in the syrup. I had placed 4 very thin sticks under the lid so moisture could escape, because mold was growing on the underside of the lid. Well the hornets could squeeze themselves through the gap to get in, but after they tanked up on syrup they were too fat to squeeze back out, so they drowned. I guess my bees do not like the flavor of hornet sweet tea and were not taking it.
So I washed out the feeder real good and made a fresh 3 gallon batch of 2:1 sugar/water and added 4 tablespoons of Pro-Health.
I slid out the board under the bottom screen and it was literally covered with wings and legs. I reckon the hornets and bees are at war inside my hive and it looks like the hornets are winning, since they go in and out of the hive, take the syrup and come back for more.
How can I kill the hornets and not kill my bees?
If I may;
I see you are in Idaho, what is your day/night temp. ?
Bees I believe shut down feeding on syrup when the syrup reaches about 50 degrees.
Many post regarding this on these boards.
[ personanly I think those 4 gallon feeders are just too big, of course I've been wrong before }
Maybe some of the Experts on here can answer you better about your wasps entering the hives, but it
sounds to me as though it is a very weak hive.
Good Luck
Bee-Bop
well, that could be it. Its been dipping below freezing at night and getting up to the high 50s in the day time.
Maybe I should take off the feeder and set it 50 feet from the hive. Then the hornets will go there instead of getting in my hive.
MV: How big are your entrances? If you haven't already, you should probably reduce them. Even with the feeder gone, there is other good stuff to eat in your boxes for yellow jackets in the habit of coming and going.
I've got the entrance reducer in place for several weeks now, with the smallest opening. The 2nd hive body has a 1/2" hole drilled, with a plastic landing porch. The hornets seem to prefer the hole, maybe because its closer to the top feeder.
I don't think there's anything else in there to eat except my bees.
The hornets know where the food is now. Close up the top hole and take off the syrup (too cold). How much honey do they have in the combs now? If you are worried, feed dry sugar or candy. For the hornets and yellow jackets, poison a can of tuna and leave it out, but out of the reach of animals. Use Sevin. Maybe place it in an empty hive by your hives.
How do you feed dry sugar? What do you put it in?
Dry Sugar. This can be fed a number of ways. Some people just dump it down the back of the hive (definitely not recommended with Screened Bottom Boards as it will fall through to the ground). Some put it on top of the inner cover. Some put a sheet of newspaper on top of the top bars, add a box on top and put the sugar on the newspaper (as in the photos above). Others put it in a frame feeder (the black plastic trough kind). I've even pulled two frames out of an eight frame box that were empty and dumped the sugar in the gap (with a solid bottom board of course). With screened bottom boards or with a small hive that just needs a little help, I'll pull some empty frames out, put some newspaper in the gap and put a little suger, spray a little water to clump it so it doesn't run out, a little more sugar until I get it full. Sometimes the house bees carry it out for trash if you don't clump it. If you drizzle some water on it you can get the bees interested in it. The finer the sugar the better they take it. If you can get "bakers" sugar or "drivert" sugar it will be better accepted that standard sugar but harder to find and more expensive. Copied from http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm (http://www.bushfarms.com/beesfeeding.htm)
It looks like this, sometimes.
winter feeding (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jZYtGNa6S6c#ws)