Elegiac

[oloriel]

The hornet is, on the whole, a misrepresented creature. As it looks like a larger, more dangerous wasp, it tends to get a lot of bad press even though it isn't nearly as aggressive as wasps tend to be (they look so scary that they don't actually have to fight much). Due to humans being a) prone to judge by appearances, b) generally irrational around insects, and c) an invasive species, hornets are actually endangered, because they are a) and b) getting ruthlessly (and, incidentally, illegally) killed and c) no longer finding enough breeding space.
I get that.

HOWEVER, that was not going through my mind when I found that a hornet queen had invaded my bee hive, put up her breeding nest in the empty frame actually meant for drone production and varroa reduction, and killed all the bees.
(Killed all my bees. I stood staring into the bee-empty, hornet-nest-filled hive for ten minutes with burning eyes before I managed to get a move on and think about what to do. ;_; )
When I had gotten over my mute shock and sadness, I figured that I'd have to re-settle the hornet queen - I mean, of course I was tempted to kill it and destroy the nest DESTROY DESTROY DESTROY EX-TER-MI-NATE, but of course I knew that the poor hornet queen wasn't really to blame. I mean, sure, I would think that in a place actually full of hollow trees and abandoned mouseholes and dry walls, a hornet would find sufficient space WITHOUT INVADING MY BEE HIVES DAMNIT, but apparently not. Or it was just too tempting to put up one's nest right next to a delicious, nutritious snack bar. Would've been smarter to leave enough bees alive so there's a steady supply, but hey, even humans don't manage that, and they have rather more complex brains than hornets do. So it isn't really the hornet's fault.

Anyway, hornets are under wildlife protection anyway, so killing it would have been a crime. :P
So instead, I dragged out a spare box and the frames I'm not using for beekeeping anyway (well, as of now I'm not using anything for beekeeping, as I have NO MORE BEES I COULD CRY), and meant to resettle the whole thing, when the hornet queen actually flew out of the box, took a crap in full flight (hornets are so huge and have so much in their bladders that you actually see it squirt out of them, isn't that delightful) and disappeared into the woods. So I couldn't do the resettling, considering that the queen was missing.
That was yesterday.
Today, while it was drizzling slightly (= hornet not flying out), I resettled the whole thing.

So now I have an empty bee hive. Full of nice - empty frames. (Except where the hornet destroyed the comb in order to eat the larvae. Did I mention that I could cry?)
And that put a cruel stop to my beekeeping for this year.
(Instead, I have a hornet nest. Hurrah. :P)

I could cry. Fuck it, I'm crying.

Comments

[satismagic.livejournal.com]

I'm so sorry. *hugs hugs hugs*

Beekeeping seems to be rather more difficult than I imagined. :(

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

It isn't really. I'm just particularly bad at it. :(

[hhimring]

Oh, poor you, what a nasty thing to happen!

[samtyr.livejournal.com]

Oh how awful. :(

*hugs*

[elfy.livejournal.com]

*hugs*
so sorry!

[allamistako.livejournal.com]

*Hug* I have no idea about bee-keeping - too late to start a new hive this year?

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Likely too late to get someone to start a new colony for me (you do that before swarming season ends, and swarming season generally ends when the days stop getting longer, i.e., next week, though with this year's funky weather you can't really be sure). If I'm lucky, someone has a spare colony and won't mind giving or selling it to someone who got her last hive killed... Other than that, of course I could always buy a new colony, but I don't currently have the money for that (nor the nerve for installing a complete colony, tbh). I'll have to ask around. >_>

[http://users.livejournal.com/macalla_/]

Oh, du Arme! Und die armen Bienen!
Ich wäre, glaub ich, weit weniger umweltfreundlich gewesen und hätte das Riesenviech umgebracht.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Ich gebe zu, wenn ich im ersten Augenblick mehr als meine Hände zur Verfügung gehabt hätte, hätte ich das vermutlich auch getan. So rein im Affekt. >_>

[fuchs.livejournal.com]

Oh nooo... but much respect for how you handled that.

[ladyelleth.livejournal.com]

*hugs*

[laurenia.livejournal.com]

Aww, no, that's awful!

I have to admit that a hornet would have stood a very small chance with me to be recognized as "endangered" in time.
(Though I would have run away before hurting anything that is black/yellow and can fly).

I hope you'll get new bees, for the selfish reason that I think it is really interesting when you write about it ;)

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Well, it's hard not to recognise a hornet, and I'm generally interested in other kinds of insects, just not WHEN THEY KILL MY BEES ;_;

The main question is not "if", just "when". But who knows, maybe I'll write about hornets next time :P

[laurenia.livejournal.com]

Probably not, but if there is a black and yellow flying insect close to me, it's "Panic now, think later" ;)

Well, I know next to nothing about hornets. And as long as I don't have to be near one physically, go ahead! :)

[elfscribe5.livejournal.com]

Ain't nature grand? Killed all your bees. Not good. I didn't know you kept bees. My great grandfather did too. Anyway, at least I learned some things from your post. I didn't know hornets were endangered or that they took over bee hives and killed bees.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Yup, nature is a bitch that wants to be bedded on corpses, to paraphrase Mirabeau...
No idea whether hornets are endangered in Britain, or the US, or anywhere else, really. They're endangered and under special protection here, though.

I only now learned that they took over bee hives, too. Normally that queen wouldn't have been able to, as there's not enough room in the bee hive, but in spring you hang in an empty frame which the bees will use for exclusively breeding drones - not because you (or the bees) desperately want the drones (they're pretty useless, can't even feed themselves, their sole purpose in life is to carry on a hive's genes, which they pass on to the first virgin queen they come across, and then they die), but because they pass through larval development slightly faster than worker bees, which makes them more attractive to varroa mites, so cutting out drones just before they're completely developed is a quick and easy way of reducing a colony's varroa infestation. Yea, bee-keepers kill bees, too... only the male ones though :P).
-- so anyway, there was an empty frame among the full ones, and that apparently was just enough space for the damn hornet to start up her nest. And as hornets feed their brood on other insects... well, it must have been pretty much paradise for her.

[gaharr.livejournal.com]

Oh no! That is truly a tragedy, especially considering how few bees we seem to have left, you have my deepest sympathies.

On the other hand I have to admit that I am glad you let the Hornet be. I always really liked them in a "God I am glad they are nowhere around me" kind of way.

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

Well, to be fair, hornets are a lot more rare and endagered than honey-bees. So at least I know I did the right thing. :P

[chili-das-schaf.livejournal.com]

I actually said "Oh no" quietly when reading this. This is horrible and I'm so sorry for you and the bees. The poor things. I would have bawled.

[shadowbrides.livejournal.com]

Aww, I'm sorry about your bees. :( I had no idea hornets did that.

I also had no idea they were endangered. I may have..err...contributed to that. Mostly when I see a really large thing that can sting (excepting bees and bumblebees) my reaction is to a) run away screaming, possibly in circles, possibly while hitting myself b) sneak up on it, kill it, also possibly while screaming. The last time I encountered a hornet it ended up nailed to a tree with by grandad's borrowed walking cane, which happens to have a pointy end. Ahem. Oops. D:

I guess I'll just go for running away screaming in the future?

[oloriel.livejournal.com]

That would probably be appreciated by the hornet community. Especially the running - screaming is optional if it helps you cope ;)

I knew that hornets kill bees and feed them to their offspring, but I had no idea that the relatively small space offered by a drone (=empty) frame between two normal frames already sufficed for a nest.
I mean, I should have figured, seeing how they normally nest in abandoned mouseholes, but, you know. Hindsight is 20/20, as they say...

I still would've expected the bees to fend off one single lonely hornet queen instead of ALLOWING IT TO NEST IN THEIR HIVE, WTF. :(

[al-pha.livejournal.com]

Oh no... *hug*