Asian Hornet - Update

[Karol]

Immersed in alcohol is good.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Immersed in alcohol is good.

A mantra I've hung on to since my teenage years

 

[dpearce4]

Immersed in alcohol is good.

Smirnoff or gordons?

 

[Erichalfbee]

Smirnoff or gordons?

Tequila

 

[Plenty of honey]

Just a little counselling post something that happened recently.

If you are looking to import samples of velutina into the UK for educational reasons, please ensure that they are actually dead. Hibernating queens do not die if exposured to freezing temperatures. The last thing the UK needs is samples of live hibernating queens being imported!!!

What Happened, did some well meaning person try bringing in a frozen queen? warm them up and their off!!

 

[Karol]

Something like that. It's a common mistake. When queens hibernate they can look very dead and the perception that they're dead is enhanced considerably if discovered in freezing temperatures.

 

[Plenty of honey]

Something like that. It's a common mistake. When queens hibernate they can look very dead and the perception that they're dead is enhanced considerably if discovered in freezing temperatures.

Ive done exactly the same with queen wasps after removing them from bird nest boxes over the winter. You bring in a seemingly dead dried up old wasp, an hour later is a big flying queen. Pretty amazing really.

 

[Hivemaker.]

Just a little counselling post something that happened recently.
If you are looking to import samples of velutina into the UK for educational reasons, please ensure that they are actually dead.

Something like that. It's a common mistake.

How common, like how many that have been imported to the UK have you come across so far?

 

[MuswellMetro]

Ive done exactly the same with queen wasps after removing them from bird nest boxes over the winter. You bring in a seemingly dead dried up old wasp, an hour later is a big flying queen. Pretty amazing really.

Did that last week...bringing a few roof and boxes back to base to cleen, filled the car up....went for a pub lunch..got in the car and Buzzzzz two large queens buzing around my head...hasty retreat and left the car doors open for 5 minutes

 

[Karol]

How common, like how many that have been imported to the UK have you come across so far?

I haven't come across any thus far but did intervene to prevent something like it happening. Knowing that other bee keepers are getting samples for educational purposes I thought it would be a good idea to alert bee keepers to the potential oversight of importing hibernating live queens by accident!

And just to give you a little more background. I've started working with a bee keeper to develop new technologies to manage velutina. As part of that I asked for mixed samples to be sent over, i.e. queens and workers. In making those arrangements I discovered that the queen samples had not been euthanized and were going to be sent on the assumption that they were dead.

The last thing we want is well meaning but inexperienced bee keepers importing their own nemesis!

 

[Hivemaker.]

I've started working with a bee keeper to develop new technologies to manage velutina.

A new Hornet trap manufacturing business?

 

[Karol]

Forum rules and all that!

 

[Hivemaker.]

Forum rules and all that!

High efficiency trap?

 

[Anduril]

High efficiency trap?

A zapper/poison applicator. They go through a tube get zapped then an automatic poison applicator coats them and off they fly.

 

[Plenty of honey]

A Glimer of hope on the Horizon.

https://youtu.be/Hguii1mvc0I

No one has mentioned this but its a fairly topical discussion at recent beekeepers Conferences and shows in France.
The use of the Carnivorous plant to attract and trap the Asian hornet has been under some intense scrutiny and trials in recent years, as its the only thing that has been deemed to be "the silver bullet"
For those who dont know, following the invasion of the Asian hornet in 2004, the Specialist plant centre in Nantes has been studying the Asian hornet and how it is (and only it) are miraculously attracted to the Carnivorous plant "Sarracenia".
After surveying the insides of numerous Sarracenia plants, it was evident that this was the possible breakthrough everyone had been looking for.
The plant secretes a compound, that attracts only Asian hornets, with only very few wasps and common hornets going in to same traps. This itself is the best possible scenario.
In 2014, a French chemist and botanist has isolated the compound that makes up the attractant on the top of the tube that in turn leads to the hornet falling in to the slippery trap. Its important to note, that this plant dosent just rely on the compound to catch its prey, its the slippery slope that it cant climb afterwards thats just as important, however:
After speaking to my collegue, who has just got back from meeting one of the group responsible for producing and testing this compound, its looking very positive.

Initial tests are said to be very encouraging but as you can imagine, if your going to produce a product thats likely to be in huge demand, it has to ready, with all doses etc and an obvious patent in place for a licensed product ( we imagine)
from what we can glean, it might be released in time for next years season, so spring trapping could suddenly become very selective.

The whole thought is that if it does what its expected to, then the entire life cycle will be massively disrupted at both ends. If an attractant does work that well, then for a start, there would be hugely less numbers of nests started in each spring, because the overwintering queens would be reduced drastically in the autumn and spring trappings.
Nests that did manage to become established would have less workers and they then, in turn , might not be viable and produce queens, and so on.
Thats the theory, and were all crossing our hive tools and badminton rackets in hope that this is all as good as it talked about.
Time will tell.
We remain optimistic about this, the proof is evident. What kind of trap they will use, how it will be presented, in a liquid, paste, no one is sure. We just have to be patient!
we've just found 3 nests in trees only 250 meters from our 2 of our apiaries. despite being a bad spring, the nests have developed to a fair size here. This possible breakthrough cant come quick enough.
Heres the obligatory selfie with recently cut down nest. Gives you an idea of the size these things, how quickly they build up even in North Brittany, where climates are very similar to that of parts of the UK.
All the white coloured rings around the middle inside of the nest are inFact developing larvae (the Asian Hornets brood). We dont think this nest had or has produced queen cells but that question, no one can seem to answer at the moment. It dosent really matter as around the next valley theres another 3 more sitting high up in the trees that would have dispersed queens and so on and so on. This was cut out 2 weeks ago, full of larvae in early November!!


http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/attachment.php?attachmentid=13769&stc=1&d=1480031953

 

[Erichalfbee]

Heavens, Richard!
What you have to contend with!
You have to imagine the ingenuity of some research programmes. We will all wait with bated breath. Thanks for the info.

 

[Amari]

Brilliant post Richard - thanks. To start with I wondered if it was April 1st!

 

[BeeJayBee]

After surveying the insides of numerous Sarracenia plants, it was evident that this was the possible breakthrough everyone had been looking for.
The plant secretes a compound, that attracts only Asian hornets, with only very few wasps and common hornets going in to same traps. This itself is the best possible scenario.

It sounds like a good sort of pheromone trap, which would be acceptable by the green lobby too.

Heres the obligatory selfie with recently cut down nest. Gives you an idea of the size these things, how quickly they build up even in North Brittany, where climates are very similar to that of parts of the UK.

All the white coloured rings around the middle inside of the nest are inFact developing larvae (the Asian Hornets brood). We dont think this nest had or has produced queen cells but that question, no one can seem to answer at the moment. It dosent really matter as around the next valley theres another 3 more sitting high up in the trees that would have dispersed queens and so on and so on. This was cut out 2 weeks ago, full of larvae in early November!!

So these nest are continuing into at least early winter? Is this usually what happens?

How far north in Britain do you think you'd need to go before the climate loses any similarity with your part of Brittany - ignoring the higher ground, for the moment.

 

[Plenty of honey]

"It sounds like a good sort of pheromone trap, which would be acceptable by the green lobby too."

Yes, but we've always maintained its important to be as selective as we can, in order to keep the levels of the common hornet, Vespa Crabbo at its current levels. as we've discussed here, whether you would wipe out Vespa Crabbo here with non selective traps , whilst your primary target is Asian Hornet, is the big debate. so far , theres little evidence to suggest that would be the case.
In my nearby big village, or town, they had a planned trapping campagne, which has seemed to massively reduce the numbers around the whole area ( of Asian Hornets). What we dont know is if this will continue in the same way in future years. as usual its all to do with funding. The other issue in the Uk was the beekeeper density was a lot higher per square meter, so non selective trapping could well cause a serious impact on the Native hornet and undermine the also so important biodiversity.

So these nest are continuing into at least early winter? Is this usually what happens?

How far north in Britain do you think you'd need to go before the climate loses any similarity with your part of Brittany - ignoring the higher ground, for the moment.[/quote]

Its thought that anywhere where the native hornet can survive, then the Asian Hornet will do as well, if not better. This already seems to be the proven model. Others still deny its possible.
They seem to keep on going in to November. Whether its because they only really get going in July , August and September, so it their natural lifespan, they would normally take a long time time to go in to "end cycle mode", if weather and food was being sustained.Which this year we would say it has.
Were all hoping to find out more details of how and when is the optimum time for queen production, so we know when the effort of destroying a nest, verse the practicalities becomes non viable.

 

[domino]

They seem to keep on going in to November.

I read this a while ago which suggests that the population of the hornet is severely lacking in genetic diversity resulting in the early production of diploid drones which hinders the colony development.

In bees diploid drones aren't viable, I assume it is the same in hornets? If not I'm sure someone will tell me. I'm not sure if the hornets eat them like bees do.

Have you seen anything to suggest inbreeding is causing the hornets issues?

http://journals.plos.org/plosone/article?id=10.1371/journal.pone.0136680