Are Yellow hornets serious bee predators?

David LaFerney · August 07, 2009, 06:15:56 PM

Around here we call these things mountain hornets, I think they are actually European hornets. Anyway they run about 1 1/2" long and look like a yellow jacket on steroids.

Today I saw this guy grapple with one brave guard bee, and then grab another one and carry it off, then come back and carry off a freshly dead bee - I had just done an inspection / reorganization and there were a couple of casualties laying about.

So, no big deal right? He's not just a scout about to return to the buffet with a whole brigade of his buddies is he?

wharfrat · August 07, 2009, 09:47:39 PM

Very cool picture.....thanks!

I saw one a month or so ago...it bit the head off one of my girls and then carried the corpse away..haven't seen it sense..

The yellow jackets are also amazing..I don't have a problem with mass quantities of them like Annette mentioned...but they do hang out waiting for the mortuary bees to bring a casualty out of the hive..then they wrestle it away. Eventually, those guys team up somehow and carry off the corpse that is at least twice their size.

Take care.. :mrgreen:

Tucker1 · August 07, 2009, 10:46:08 PM

Every once in awhile I have two or three in front of a hive. They usually try to either get into a hive or kill one of my girls. Most of the time they leave empty handed, so it's not a problem for me.

annette · August 08, 2009, 12:43:50 AM

Those are freakin scary looking!! Thank G-D we do not have those out here. Our yellowjackets are much smaller and still do lots of damage. I have gotten my hives under control now after hanging store bought traps that worked so well.

They are just acting normal now and just flying around on the ground waiting for a bee to drop down. No more grabbing from the landing board, unless I am just missing it.

David LaFerney · August 08, 2009, 01:24:28 AM

Quote from: annette on August 08, 2009, 12:43:50 AM
Those are freakin scary looking!! Thank G-D we do not have those out here. Our yellowjackets are much smaller and still do lots of damage. I have gotten my hives under control now after hanging store bought traps that worked so well.

They are just acting normal now and just flying around on the ground waiting for a bee to drop down. No more grabbing from the landing board, unless I am just missing it.

They aren't yellow jackets they just look like them - just like how a Clydesdale looks like a Shetland pony. I've seen their egg shaped gray paper nests that are almost two feet across - usually more like a b-ball. And yes, they are scary looking. However you're probably more likely to be stung by yellow jackets because you infringe on their nest before you know it's there.

Once while bow hunting I walked to within 6 feet of a nest of mountain hornets that was on a limb only about 5 feet off the ground (unusually low) before I heard it. That was a sphincter tightener.

TwT · August 08, 2009, 02:29:32 AM

that is a European hornet, they will attack anything like bee's, wasp's and other insects, from what I have read about them they don't attack bee's like the Japanese Giant Hornet. I killed 5 in four days on my back porch this past spring, still haven't found the nest around here but haven't seen any around my hives.

beecanbee · September 03, 2009, 02:48:41 AM

This link is to a good write-up on the Japanese "Yellow" Hornet, and includes further links into Youtube – showing a nest removal from an attic. The Video is in Japanese – but is still worth watching.

http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=12382

This is not the giant hornet (Vespa mandarinia) – but see this next link to a Wiki article on it.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vespa_mandarinia_japonica

bee-nuts · September 03, 2009, 05:01:57 AM

My budy had wasp flying around the entrance of a hive one year constantly. The hive died out over winter and when we cleaned it out and moved the equipment into garage we found a paper wasp nest underneath the hive. They probably could not have picked a better spot. They more or less had a honeybee buffet out there front door.

shemer · September 03, 2009, 11:56:07 AM

Ours look very much alike. This one was down and probably had been drawn from inside the hive to the entrance, where I saw it.

Mason · September 03, 2009, 01:29:46 PM

I have those monsters around my house. I was told the big yellow ones are Russian Hornets but who knows. We have another more typical hornet around here that is almost solid black. I have not seen the nest of the big yellow ones but I can tell you (from experience) that the black ones are not to be messed with. They attack in force and pack a pretty good wallop.

We got into a nest when I was a kid built in the ground. Usually I see them hanging but this one was in a hole from a rotted out stump in Louisiana. They chased me and two of my cousins down a shell road for what seemed like a quarter of a mile. I can remember that we all had a string of them flying behind us just like in the cartoons. We all ended up polka dotted by the time we made it back to the house........ouch.

You can catch them pretty easy. I built a trap by cutting the top of a 2 liter bottle, turning the top upside down to create a funnel. Baited it with about 3 inches of water and a piece of pork chop. Lots of bugs ended up in that thing as well as some hornets. I don't think they were really impacting my hives that much and a Hornets got to eat too.

Tucker1 · September 03, 2009, 08:40:08 PM

I saw this at the beginning of the summer and it eventually became a problem for me and the girls. Here is a nice "string" that will provide you some great ideas for getting rid of them.

http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,24435.0.html

Regards,
Tucker1

annette · September 04, 2009, 12:31:07 AM

Wow beecanbee

That is quite an impressive hornets nest. I cannot believe they can get that big.

Quote from: beecanbee on September 03, 2009, 02:48:41 AM
This link is to a good write-up on the Japanese “Yellow” Hornet, and includes further links into Youtube – showing a nest removal from an attic. The Video is in Japanese – but is still worth watching.

http://www.japanprobe.com/?p=12382

Tucker1 · September 23, 2009, 07:34:12 PM

Squish every one of the buggers !

scdw43 · September 24, 2009, 02:00:39 AM

I have killed several around my hives this year.
Twenty years ago I had my truck window down and my arm hanging out of the window. One flew up my sleave, stung me six times under the arm before I could crush it. I did not turn it loose until I got home ten miles away and my wife helped me remove my shirt. If a HB sting is a 1 on the 1-10 scale this thing must have been an 8 it hurt for hours are a least until I could drink a six pack. I haven't had a drink in 13 years, now I guess one would kill me.

David LaFerney · September 24, 2009, 10:23:14 PM

I spotted this a few weeks ago -

Those are the same European hornets - I know it's hard to tell in the picture. Anyway, I thought their nest must be in that hole (about 14-18 feet up). Makes sense? a few days later I looked again, and not a single hornet to be seen. Now I'm wondering if there was a honey bee colony in there that the hornets had cleaned out, and in the picture they were just mopping up the spoils. Who knows. It's a white oak tree, and I don't think that the sap would be anything that they would be interested in. Sure would make a cool bee tree though - although the entrance hole might be too big if it lets in the monsters.

It just occurred to me that if I got up there and carved an eye on the left I could probably convince my grand kids that it's an Ent.

Rodni73 · September 25, 2009, 12:05:14 AM

Today I found 5 dead hornets in front of my second hive. One of the hornet was being roasted alive and balled by my amazons! Cool sight to see so many guards at the front entrance ready for combat.

-Rodni