Asian Hornets

[Veem]

In our tractor shed, I've been aware of an ever growing nest on the underside of the roof for a while now. I'd convinced myself that the residents were not Asian hornets, but a common form of wasp. We'd had a huge Asian hornets' nest in the hangar last year, so I should have known better.

Today Biggles went to get the tractor out and was stung twice. Between us we realised that these were not wasps.

I phoned our local bee keeper J-M who came this afternoon and confirmed our fears. Asian hornets. Last year he destroyed over 25 nests (including ours) and in the past week he's been called out to destroy more than usual. He's just been back and removed the nest to a black bag which will now go straight into a freezer. The hornets were buzzing furiously inside the bag.

I'm glad J-M knew what he was doing.

[Blaze]

Glad Biggles was okay - the sting is very painful and he would normally have been seen immediately by a doctor had he gone to your local surgery.

Asian hornets are nasty creatures and known for their mass destruction of bees. They attack them when leaving or entering the hive and if they can get into a hive will massacre the bees. In numbers, they can become extremely angry if disturbed and will attack humans. Like any sting, one in the wrong place can be fatal (windpipe or anaphylactic shock for example) so nests should be left well alone.
A nest on your property is best dealt with by a specialist but if you see one when you're out and about, you can inform the Mairie and they will deal with it. It is strongly déconseillé for individuals to attempt to deal with it.
In this area they ask people to report all sightings to the Mairies.

If you see a nest being built and are not sure what it is, you can take a photograph and "normalement" someone at the Mairie - or a bee keeper - should know what it is. Or someone on this forum ! Nests are more easily dealt with when they are small .... But they are beautiful works of art and sadly dissolve when sprayed with the chemicals used by insect destruction companies.

[Crystal]

I'm glad Biggles is OK.

When we moved to France there was a huge abandoned nest hanging from a branch of a tree outside our house. I don't know what type of nest it was, but it was a huge ball about 12" in diameter, smooth on the outside.

OH decided to knock it off with a long pole and I was looking forward to getting a good look at it, but when it hit the ground it completely disappeared in a puff of dust - like a magic disappearing trick!

They are truely fascinating things.

[mysty]

I'm glad Biggles is OK.

When we moved to France there was a huge abandoned nest hanging from a branch of a tree outside our house. I don't know what type of nest it was, but it was a huge ball about 12" in diameter, smooth on the outside.

OH decided to knock it off with a long pole and I was looking forward to getting a good look at it, but when it hit the ground it completely disappeared in a puff of dust - like a magic disappearing trick!

They are truely fascinating things.

Men generally are.

[mysty]

We had a problem with Asian hornets last year and could not sit outside in the evening.
Nothing at all this year we ever saw the nest.

[Veem]

Two lots of friends had nests last year and went down the route of informing the mairie. They both paid around 100€ to have the nests removed.

J-M has all the protective gear, years of experience and doesn't charge a sou.

[Blaze]

The Mairies round here like to be informed of nests to see if the trend for Asian hornets is increasing. They will take charge of nests found in the communes but not those on private properties. Professionals aren't cheap (in our last house we had to get rid of hornets' nests pretty regularly) but the only resort if you don't have a friendly bee-keeper who'll do it for nothing

[Char]

I hope Biggles isn't too sore today [mention]Veem[/mention] - I always carry a tube of onctose with me (along with my epi pen) for immediate relief it's a hydrocortisone - 'tis good for stinging nettle stings as well.

[Sunflower]

Same for us as Blaze, we have to report them to the Mayor. We took a photo and gave the location, they came out and confirmed it was Asian Hornets and put a mark on the road. Two days later a crew came around and sprayed it.

Before:



After:



No charge to us, you only have to pay if it's a common hornet on you property.

[Veem]

I hope Biggles isn't too sore today @Veem - I always carry a tube of onctose with me (along with my epi pen) for immediate relief it's a hydrocortisone - 'tis good for stinging nettle stings as well.

I had a tube of Onctose in the meds drawer so we applied some pretty quickly. The tube was dated 2013 but it's all we had!