so here we are on october the 5th and it's another 40 degree morning and i
came out to the spirulina feeders which draws off the hornets and yellow jackets
to see what's going on and i find these sleepy european hornets and bald-faced hornets
and had some thoughts about that since they're cold and can't fly yet maybe i should pick them up
see how that goes you'll notice watch the abdomen there she's going to squirt out her venom right
there and she's not happy but she's somewhat incapacitated by the cold so i thought it would
be pretty much okay to pick her up here and get some close-up views and see how articulate their
abdomen is to see if she could actually deliver a sting i know you want to see this in slow motion
that's a lot of venom she did not extend her stinger why because she couldn't find flesh to
put it into so they don't extend their stinger unless they can manipulate their abdomen around
and get it into you but they have the ability to hunt and fly by night they can also spritz their
venom as you just saw a lot of people question whether or not they could do that so i'm glad
to get it on camera just for you the other thing is the reason all these yellow jackets
and these european hornets bald-faced hornets are pinging on my apiary landing boards is
because i let my feeders run out so this morning i went out and filled them up again
and one thing led to another i decided to experiment and see if i could really
just pick up european hornets maybe there's a safe way to grab them on their thorax now
you're watching this thinking man fred you know what that one was already hindered by the cold
she's not fully functioning i'd like to see you try that with a european hornet that's ready to
go that has all her flight muscles warmed up i'm gonna do that keep watching so the
other thing is here look at all the yellow jackets these are the small yellow jackets
and they're all coming to this feeder why would i feed them well as i explained before it draws them
away from my apiary and giving them spiritually not loaded sugar syrup uh distracts them
keeps them away now there's our european hornet there that i had picked up and
put down she tried to climb up to get to these feeders of course to get carbohydrates sugar syrup
to warm up and fly away but she actually fell in i had to pick her up and take her out
and all these little yellow jackets you think i pick one of them up nah
but here is another european hornet largest hornet in north america of course the asian giant hornet
has shown up in washington state but this is the state of pennsylvania we don't have those yet
so i'm gonna have to experiment with this one oh here's another one flying in so the morning's just
getting going about 40 45 degrees give or take and when the sun hits of course things are warmer
so i am gonna grab one of these and see if i can get a hold of the thorax there and see if they can
bend their abdomen around and sting me what do you think reach in here and maybe grab this one
got to come up high and behind there just like sneaking up on a scuba diver
come in and you're going to totally surprise her and she won't be able to fly off
so i'm thinking the thorax is the best area to grab
and nah near miss let's follow her around though she's scoping me out she's flying little circles
staring me down she's not scared she's going right back to drinking and the mix is two to
one sugar syrup two times sugar one times water and two full tablespoons of spirulina
ooh she's mad i got her there's no backing out if you let go now you're gonna get stung
watch her stinger oh she put it right into my thumb there and look at the big glob of venom
so she actually squirted venom out the end of her stinger first yeah i know i had to let her
go sorry was that rough you probably wanted to see this in slow motion look how mad she is she
actually comes after me now she even jumps on the camera they have attitudes i mean what's the deal
all i did was pick her up i didn't hurt her here she comes right after me let's see the
whole thing in slow motion again so i grabbed her by the thorax her four limbs are coming up she's
trying to grab me get me off of her she's really mad because she was mid-sip there on the spirulina
syrup watch her abdomen and look at the stinger she extends her stinger and primes it with venom
see the little glint of venom there underneath my thumb
she's trying to find a place to stick it in there
still hasn't made contact yet but you can see how long the stinger is too
there she is she's feeling around so their abdomen is very articulate by grabbing the thorax you
don't really control the abdomen very well and she's going to sting me right in probably the
best place just underneath my thumbnail there's another glint of venom being extruded there
and keep in mind as we saw with the other specimen they can squirt their venom into
the air they can fly at night they can squirt it in your face they're just a
lot of fun all the way around look at that big drip of venom on the surface of my thumb
now she finally did find a way to get it in and she's going to stick her stinger right in under
my thumbnail still holding on to that spirulina in her mouth though she's not letting that go
but this demonstrates is there really a safe way to pick up a european hornet if you want to just
grab one well maybe if they're cold and a 40 degree morning but once they're warmed up and
fully capable of flying and doing everything else they need to do they can get that stinger into you
so i wanted to share that with you don't uh don't pick him up
look how unhappy she is now what you're watching here is at five percent normal speed so this all
happens really fast and i held on to this hornet for the full duration of the sting because i
wanted to see what goes on there how bad is it to be stung by a european hornet well let me tell you
this was no worse than being stung by a honeybee now the amount of venom seems excessive there
and uh honeybees leave their venom sac behind they leave the muscle behind
that continues to pump venom even once the bee has detached from that
wasps on the other hand have a smoother stinger like this one has which can stick
into you and they can sting you multiple times and in the end the wasp flies away unharmed
but what i did see i got back at her i made her get rid of all of her venom resources
so she has to build that back up before she can sting anything else
so is that revenge not really am i harming the european hornet for those of you who are
very concerned that any of these are harmed no i didn't hurt her at all although at the end
of this i might drop her kind of hard but that's because she stung me in the thumb but you picked
her up that's right i did otherwise you wouldn't be able to see exactly how the mechanism works
and there it is and again i would not pick up the smaller yellow jackets because they're just
hard to get a hold of let's be honest european hornet nice and big big thorax
there are a lot of queens that are just getting ready they're taking on carbohydrates they're
trying to get ready to get through winter just like the honeybees are just like the smaller wafts
are everyone is storing up and because they're not social insects through winter they have to store
all their fats and resources in their bodies then they'll fly into the woods somewhere and they'll
dig into some humus underneath the bark on an old tree something like that and they'll winter over
with the fat stores that they've accumulated this time of year in the month of october
now watch the stinger it's about to release here
out it comes and now i can let her go and there's still a drip of venom on the surface of my thumb
and there you have it can you safely pick up a european hornet no you can't unless she's frozen
so if you want a sore thumb just grab one look at all these little yellow jackets drinking at
the spirulina the honeybees don't seem to care for it also this stuff is very caustic tasting
i dip my finger in it and it leaves mark it tastes bitter on the tongue so here's
this same hornet after i dropped her down i don't know why she wasn't happy with me
she comes right after my camera what is her deal i didn't hurt her all i did was pick her
up lands on my lens clamors up over the camera tries to come after my face
so my advice to you is if you want to see if they can sting watch this video
don't pick them up don't try it on your own and i appreciate that you took the time to watch it
have a fantastic work week the month of october and i hope your honeybees are doing great if you
want to distract wasps from your bee yard set up a spirulina sugar syrup feeding station wasps and
hornets come to it honeybees don't and you can also use it as trap bait if you like to trap them
please do not pick up venomous insects without adequate protection