I have yellow jackets snooping around my hives. Today I watched them going into the hive, slowly, sometimes being chased off but other times disappearing inside for a bit then coming out and leaving, like they are robbing. This is the strong hive. It was cool outside so not much activity. It was all very peaceful.
I peaked into the opening, and noticed that a hornet would just hang around on the landing, waiting for the guard bees inside the hive to leave an opening. No fights, just a guard that would occassionally make a move toward the hornet, and the hornet would back off...for a while. Then a hornet would go in, disappear from view, then come out and fly away, presumably full!
So I put a cleat on, with the large opening as the nectar flow is strong. Then I watched another two yellow jackets go into the hive. Is this normal?
Hornets are frustrated as I just adjusted the hummingbird feeder to keep them out.