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One has to laugh. There are so many gullible people willing to be taken in.

Laced protein pellets were never going to work. Just shows a lack of understanding of wasp biology. Adult wasps don't have the mouth parts to process hard protein. Larvae do. Consequently there's no trophallaxis chain to the queen as the larvae are killed so don't express carbohydrates to feed...

Apologies for any confusion caused. Wick based bait stations are definitely the way to go. Monitor and if you detect the presence of velutina report it directly to the NBU and ask them what they would like you to do. Unless you have experience of dealing with velutina directly, I suspect it...

Damnation? Hardly, I advised on how to 'formulate' FC used overseas where there was an overwhelming infestation. Very successfully I would ad albeit not 'validated' by an * academic institution. (* I had intended to use a few choice adjectives but shall show restraint). Damnation of use of FC...

Apologies. I have amended the offending sentence to remove any confusion. Absolutely use bait stations not traps. One of the principal conclusions reached by Mazzamazda is that traps are highly counter productive.

How many is far too many and where do you get your raw data to back up your statement? Have you interrogated a representative sample of beekeepers to make that deduction? When there's an established infestation such as in France and parts of Spain and Portugal. Not relevant to the UK. I'll let...

Of course you have the right to an opinion. But if you voice your opinion on the forum you must accept the right of others to challenge it and challenge its credentials. Not an unhealthy approach given that velutina is not established in the UK. So long as beekeepers look after their hives in...

Apart from personal opinion what qualifies you to undermine the recommendations of the NBU? Wherein lies the problem. How precisely can one triangulate dead or exhausted captured hornets? The two mutually exclude each other. Time to engage brain a little perhaps? Definitely the wrong thing to...

Who is compensating French and Spanish beekeepers?

Rightly so. As they should have been. This comes down to an understanding of early population dynamics and behaviour in eusocial wasps. Once a bait station has been detected by velutina, I would suggest all other proximal bait stations need to be removed. This will concentrate the number of...

One thing that troubles me in all this is the risk from nefarious actors. Rumours abound of unscrupulous pest controllers releasing bed bugs on busy public transport in big cities to seed business. Not a big jump to vv.

Might I suggest that those of you planning to spring trap don't and use wick bait stations instead and report sightings of velutina both to the NBU and to the forum.

Really? (Haven't heard a single UK case of a confirmed velutina queen this year.) Or is that you just want to scare people into jumping on the runaway fright train! Sounds like a marketing ploy to get customer data to sell more destructive products. Pray tell, how will you know precisely when...

Survival rates for native wasps improve with long harsh winters. Mild winters are catastrophic for them.

Given that Mazzamazda achieved 100% survival without traps, muzzles or harpes I'm not sure that's anything to brag about. Does sound like native vespines will take a battering judging by all the sales of velutina junk. Does sound like beekeepers are going to reap the wind.

https://publishing.rcseng.ac.uk/doi/10.1308/rcsbull.2017.52 Worth a quick read. Using home made eye drops is a major risk and not something that should be at all entertained by the lay person. Far, far safer to purchase eye drops specifically formulated for instillation into the eye and...

Or sent over in the crates of velutina traps.

Just to add that that is at the location of where the queens are hibernating. So with vespines we have seen queens emerging from south facing dark buildings earlier than north facing light buildings. Depending on weather conditions this amounts to emergence happening concertedly over a few days...

Subliminal in the UK is where FC needs to remain until such time if at all that velutina gains any foot hold which exceeds the resources of the NBU. Subliminal is good because the conversation has sparked formal third party interest into researching the safety of the method. It will be...

You do talk rubbish. Velutina can no sooner cheat physics than you can fly by simply flapping your arms! Given your personal experience with velutina which has been horrible, everyone sympathisizes with you and understands why you are flapping. That does not mean however that the UK should flap...