Asian hornet traps and baits - please review what you've used

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There is a difference in size males 2.3 cm and females 3cm the males have two yellow dots on the underneath side of the abdomen which females do not have. Female antenna are straight but males are curved 10 rings on the antenna of a female and 11 on a male Females have a sting males do not.The only way of telling a Queen from a worker is by the width of the thorax.
 
In Galicia something that we can call a bait/sacrifice hive is being promoted. It is a drawer with some pictures and a crown board with a hole for the feeder. A mesh is rolled over this hole (to allow the bees to exit). In the upper part, an elbow and a reduction are made to allow the cleaning of the velutina corpses. Velutinas without room to maneuver only ascend like a helicopter. When they reach the top it is impossible for them to descend and they die accumulated in the reduction.
This is a fall trap, to defend the apiary by promoting impact on a hive without passive defense (electric harp and piquera reduction).
Any chance of some photographs?
 
It would be very easy to film these traps at work to demonstrate bycatch escape to substantiate the claims. Can't find a single detailed video or live cam to that effect.

The problem with these traps which gets completely overlooked by those who are not of the art is that the target catch will kill any bycatch that enters the traps so phaffing with slight differences in so called escape mesh dimensions to effect selectivity (which in any event is a highly dubious claim) is irrelevant.

Strikes me that the claims for selectivity are made based on trawling through the catch. The absence of other vespines is not proof of selectivity if those vespines are no longer present ecologically to be caught in the first place.
Karol
Good to see you have some principles and values you stand to.
Salute
 
Sunny weekend ahead. I'm putting out a couple of bait trays to see what's about. This photo from a month ago. Flies and wasps visit.
Tray 1: sugar syrup/jam/pinch of yeast (who has cassis or for that matter spare lager in the house)
Tray 2: mashed up shrimps (who has prawns, see above)

View attachment 37829

DSCF20231008-02-small.jpg

The bait trays have been out on the wall for 3 days with very little interest.
Monitoring = check when I happen to walk past. Not near my hives. 15-20m to nearest one.
Added some lager to the syrup/jam, still little interest. Large Common? wasp seen once on shrimp bait + a few flies more frequently. I know I have a nest of small German? wasps not far away and have seen the odd Common wasp around my hives.
Lack of interest could be because the ivy is still giving locally.
Thankfully no AHs.
 
I'm based in Brittany and started trapping a couple of years ago. Last year I bought an AH trap and caught about 40 queens in the spring, so this year I bought another one and made 2 myself. I used a mix of 35% white wine, lager (apparently bees don't like beer ) and grenadine and hung them all about 2 metres up near a large Camellia bush. AH are attracted to them when they come out of hibernation because they are native to Japan and flower in early spring. This year they were a bit later in coming out due to excessive rain and a cold spring, however they soon showed themselves when it warmed up. I have attached a photo showing the merits of the different traps - I call it "Tale of the tape" used when boxers are compared to their opponent! Once I started to catch the odd Euro I took them down. Seems the AH come out of hibernation a few weeks earlier. I caught twice as many this year than last, but that could be because I had a nest in my roof which I didn't discover until october!
Many of specimens in your pic seem to be Euro hornets or wasps, judging by the number of yellow abdomen stripes.
 
These might stop the hornets getting the bees on the way in, but there's nothing to stop them using the devices as a perch until a bee comes out then 'hawking' it.
If there is heavy AH predation, without muzzles the bees hang on the front of the hive, they won't forage, they get stressed and eat through their stores. With the muzzles they continue to forage, they are less stressed, the queen lays as normal. It's a de-stressor which improves the colonies chance of survival.
It does not stop predation.
 
The spanish research papers indicate with out a muzzle 50% of their test colonies survived , with a muzzle the survival rate increased to 75%. This was without any other V.v interactions so no trapping or use of harpes.
 
Watching Richard Noel a commercial beekeeper in France he basically said muzzles are a waste of time if there’s a heavy predation
 
Anyone come across this trap, if you have used it would love to hear your thoughts.

Thank you

https://eu.broodminder.com/en-gb/products/asian-hornet-trapp?variant=40015522955351
As per YouTube these look to work well and are selective. But they are made to fit a Nutella jar and the thread & size is not that common here. There are ones to suit UK sizes as free to use 3D printer design files available if you have a printer. If you do not have a 3D printer or access to one they are available from Marsh Apiaries. This type are for general trapping through the year. We ([email protected]) have a version designed for spring Queen trapping, the entrance and escapes holes are resized to maximise the chances of catching an AH Queen and allow as much bycatch to escape without releasing the AH Queen. They are smaller (not intended for large quantities of workers) and will fit on a typical 1lb jam jar. We estimate that we will be able to sell these at £1.00 each + postage. Asian Hornet Alert are a non profit community group/club set up to fight or manage the Asian Hornet problem, open to all, Beeks, non-beeks and other groups.
 
Watching Richard Noel a commercial beekeeper in France he basically said muzzles are a waste of time if there’s a heavy predation
Yes have watched his Youtube, I am sure the one Richard recommends the "Jabeprode" are good, since there are now many options out there its looking at the best and also the cheapest. As not all beekeepers will buy traps that will cost about £100 for each trap.
 
As per YouTube these look to work well and are selective. But they are made to fit a Nutella jar and the thread & size is not that common here. There are ones to suit UK sizes as free to use 3D printer design files available if you have a printer. If you do not have a 3D printer or access to one they are available from Marsh Apiaries. This type are for general trapping through the year. We ([email protected]) have a version designed for spring Queen trapping, the entrance and escapes holes are resized to maximise the chances of catching an AH Queen and allow as much bycatch to escape without releasing the AH Queen. They are smaller (not intended for large quantities of workers) and will fit on a typical 1lb jam jar. We estimate that we will be able to sell these at £1.00 each + postage. Asian Hornet Alert are a non profit community group/club set up to fight or manage the Asian Hornet problem, open to all, Beeks, non-beeks and other groups.

Is this a tested trap? that price would be good as many others would be happy to join the fight with low costs.
 
Perhaps our British weather will help.
Warmer weather inviting the Queens to come out of hibernation and start nest building.
And then it freezes again killing them off.
Or a few weeks of non stop rain so they can't forage.

Though wasps seem to cope, so maybes not.
 
Though wasps seem to cope, so maybes not.

I'm really not sure that they have been coping that well over the last couple of years, for exactly the reasons you suggest. This year may perhaps be different because the winter has been so comparatively mild that their survival rate during hibernation may be much better.

James
 
Apparently - according to a BI talking on AH today, there is a European shortage of AH traps and baits.
 
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