September 15, 2026 there were about 16 people in attendance for our monthly Transylvania County Beekeepers Association meeting. Beth made a motion to approve the August 18, 2026 minutes as emailed out on August 24, 2026. Mark seconded. All were in favor.
We started the meeting off with a round table discussion from the attending beekeepers. One beekeeper had caught a swarm and was wondering the best way to treat it since he had a new queen that was just introduced. In order not to harm the new queen and/or disturb the new colony, the best mite treatment would be oxalic acid. Could utilize the drip method if he doesn’t have a vaporizer to treat the bees.
Buncombe, Henderson and Transylvania Counties are working together to have a WNC Regional Beekeeping Conference, May 15, 2027. They are working together to have some great speakers. Mark your calendars and stay tuned for more information.
Randy Austin (treasurer of the bee club) gave a wonderful presentation on his encounters with the European Hornet and how to make traps. https://www.ncagr.gov/YLHTrapping From mid March to April, he caught emerging queens of both European hornets and yellow jackets. It is best to start trapping in March because this will keep the colonies from spreading since the queens are just emerging. Since then, Randy has caught hundreds of European hornets and thousands of yellow jackets. The same trap is utilized for catching the Yellow Legged Hornets (YLH). We currently don’t have any YLH in our area, but they are not too far away and are a lot more detrimental to the honey bees than the European Hornet. Make sure to keep your hive entrance reducers in place to keep out the hornets.
You only need a clear, plastic bottle, sharp knife or box cutter and twine to hang the traps. The larger the bottle, the less often you will have to clean it out.
In making the trap, cut out an H design in the middle of the bottle. Leave the flap pulled out on the bottom of the opening the hornets will fly into. The H cut needs to be at least 1/2 to one inch. It is best to start your cut about 2-2 1/2 inches up from the bottom of the jar to leave ample room for the bait syrup.
You need to register your traps with the NC Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services: https://survey123.arcgis.com/share/061deba97518462086a95784b2fe1312.
Mix equal parts of grape juice to “dark” brown sugar. Dark sugar works better than “light” brown sugar. Heat the mixture up just enough to dissolve the sugar. Don’t boil, or over heat the mixture. You can also add some water to help dissolve the sugar instead of heating it up. Put just enough in the jar to fill up the bottom. This mixture is often called Georgia juice and doesn’t attract honey bees.
Hang the traps eye level, so they are easy to access for cleaning out and refilling. Raccoons will get into the traps if you hang them too low. Tie the twine around the neck of the bottle and then hang it from a tree, at least 50 feet from your hives. Make sure to clean out the traps at least every two weeks. Pour most of the liquid into a strainer to verify what you have caught. Randy found out it is best not to wash out the jars. Just refill them with Georgia juice and hang them back up. Half of the old, fermented juice to half of fresh juice works best.
If you catch any YLH’s, please make sure to contact Lewis Cauble (Lewis.Cauble@ncagr.gov or (828)230-4544). Southern yellow jacket queens have yellow legs and can be mistake for YLH. Best to check with Lewis when in doubt.
Randy had caught two hornets on some sticky fly paper. A Carolina Wren came and ate them.
Dr. Powell from the Apiculture and Pollinator Program at Clemson University will be our October 20th meeting speaker. He will provide us with more in depth information regarding the hornets. Hope to see you on October 20th!