A Beekeeper's Journal (Part 2): Our War Against the "Murder Hornet"

Hello everyone, and welcome back to the second entry in A Beekeeper's Journal.

In Part 1, we talked about waking the bees up in late winter. But even if we succeed, a new war begins as the weather warms. This is our fight against the Asian Giant Hornet, known in the West as the "Murder Hornet."

This is not an exaggeration. For us beekeepers in Korea, this is an annual battle for survival that defines our autumn.


1. The Problem: Meet the Attackers

Before we show you our defenses, you need to understand who we're fighting. It's not just one type of hornet; it's a two-front war.

  • The Main Villain: The Asian Giant Hornet. This is the one you've heard of—the 'Murder Hornet.' It's a monster. Its only goal is to slaughter the entire hive, chop up the bees and their brood, and feed them to its young. A few of these can destroy an entire colony in hours.

  • The Relentless Nuisance: The Yellow-legged Hornet. This one is smaller, but just as terrible. It 'hawks' at the hive entrance, picking off individual guard bees one by one. While one can't destroy a hive, they come in massive numbers and are a constant, stressful drain on the colony. Worse, they stay active in cooler weather, long after the Giant Hornets are gone, plaguing us until the very end of the season.

The damage they leave behind is devastating. It's hard to explain the threat with just words. This video from our apiary shows the direct aftermath of an attack.

(Warning: This footage may be disturbing to some viewers.)

This video shows the tragic result. These are the bees that were killed by a hornet. We managed to capture the culprit responsible for this massacre. You can see the pile of dead bees and the hornet itself, still alive in a container. This is the brutal reality we face.

2. Our Defense: The Multi-Layered Strategy

Of course, we don't just sit and watch. We fight back.

We use a multi-layered defense strategy, combining methods learned from my father (Mr. Shin's Father) with our own.

First, we install traps. Lots of them. We are always experimenting and use several different types around the apiary. Here are a couple of examples of traps we use:


Second, we use physical defenses. We narrow the hive entrances so the giant hornets can't physically get inside. We also keep hand nets (like butterfly nets) stationed around the apiary to catch them manually whenever we spot one flying near the hives.

Third, the "Nuclear Option." If the attack becomes overwhelming and we suspect a nest is nearby, we call in professional hornet hunters to find and destroy the main nest.


3. The Result: Does it Work?

So, do these traps and methods actually work? Take a look at this second video. It shows another one of our traps (a different model than the ones pictured above), and the result after just a few days.

This is the result after just a few days. Every single hornet caught in this trap is one less predator that can kill our bees. We consider this a major victory.

But the battle isn't over.

This fight continues from late summer until the first hard frost of winter. This is part of the price we pay for every jar of honey we produce in Korea.

Thanks for reading the second entry in our Journal. We'll share another story soon.

Stay tuned.



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