"have you tried an entrance reducer with individual bee sized holes drilled"

It sort of helps and sort of does not.   Yes, you can reduce the 
entrance and yes  that makes it easy to defend but ...  it also 
restricts the bees since an active colony needs more access.

But ..  there is also another view ...   When you have only one or two 
hornets they come round and take bees that are leaving the hive (not 
normally bees returning to the hive) and you can live with that.  But 
the behaviour changes as the season progresses.  Both the hornets and 
bees change.  The hornets start working together and the number of 
hornets increases so that there are say ten or more present at any 
time.  The bees change ..  they are extremely reluctant to leave the 
hive.   The hornets camp out day after day after day waiting.  
Eventually the bees must leave.  Then it is breakfast, lunch and dinner 
all at once.

A reduced entrance is a defence but it is not a solution.  The solution 
is to either kill hornet nest(s) or it is to trap the hornets (since if 
the hornets are trapped other hornets do not find the marking pheromones 
used by the hornets (have to be kept fresh) and so have to discover the 
location of the bee hive again.





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