Asian hornets

[maddydog]

Very nice. Similar in principle to my own floors, however, mine only have a single entrance. I really like the sliding(?) blank to close the inner entrance off

 

[Austin]

Stunning is good. Quick dab of Fipronil “custard” and away she flies to poison the nest

I can try this - how do I make this ‘custard’ please? Sorry if that is a stupid question.
Regards.

 

[Sutty]

Post in thread 'Asian hornets in the UK. A chance of stopping them?' Asian hornets in the UK. A chance of stopping them?

 

[Newbeeneil]

Very nice. Similar in principle to my own floors, however, mine only have a single entrance. I really like the sliding(?) blank to close the inner entrance off

You have to have a way of closing up the hive if you need to move it. My design with 4 open sides and central entrance needed a longer slide which used to stick after a bit of propolising. The one in the picture doesn’t seem to suffer as much.

 

[ericbeaumont]

how do I make this ‘custard’ please?

Not a method approved by the VMD and Fipronil will cause wider environmental damage.

https://www.greenpeace.org/internat...bees-time-to-say-goodbye-to-fipronil-sosbees/
https://www.sussex.ac.uk/broadcast/read/53897

 

[Erichalfbee]

Not a method approved by the VMD and Fipronil will cause wider environmental damage.

Austin is in France

 

[Erichalfbee]

I can try this - how do I make this ‘custard’ please? Sorry if that is a stupid question.
Regards.

Are you on Twitter?
Message Richard Noel there or @Plenty of honey here

 

[North End Bees]

Heavens...if that works it will be genius!
I'd get that design protected just in case. You could give up beekeeping

Give up beekeeping?!!

 

[Carl]

Hello, i thought i would re-start this post.

I built a cage to mount at the front of the hive. The holes are 24mm wide and the bees fly right tjrough but the hornets do not so it stops them getting to the landing board.
At this point it is a prototype and we also have hornet traps about that are catching hornets and have not had an issue at the hives yet.
We have both Asian and European hornets about so will be keeping a close eye out to see how it goes.
( the picture shows the mesh with 12mm holes, these i enlarged to 24 mm as the bees were not flying straight through).

 

[Karol]

Not a method approved by the VMD and Fipronil will cause wider environmental damage.

Except that the fipronil in the fipronil custard has a half life of a few hours. If it's not freshly prepared it ceases to kill.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Except that the fipronil in the fipronil custard has a half life of a few hours

Is that right? Isn't it just the same as used on dogs?

 

[Anduril]

2 articles on the degradation of fipronil.
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...wQFnoECBIQBQ&usg=AOvVaw3AImkXzkzlNY4dehya9xVT
https://www.google.com/url?sa=t&sou...wQFnoECBYQBQ&usg=AOvVaw0vk-LN1OqQX5JXN7bWteyP

 

[Karol]

Is that right? Isn't it just the same as used on dogs?

So part of the work Mazzamazda did was to feed the formulation to captured Asian hornets to gauge efficacy. Hornets fed with freshly prepared fipronil custard died whilst those fed with fipronil custard that was (from memory circa 10 hours old) survived.

It took a number of weeks to hone the formulation but eventually the system developed was really effective with a drastic drop in the hornet population. Most importantly, it needed a concerted campaign initially followed by routine dosing thereafter to stay on top of things. My understanding is that it was very successful as a method.

 

[Ian123]

There was a talk from a chap at the local association about Asian hornets. He had been to jersey and was the local Asian hornet rep or whatever the term is. Knowing the likely response from my question I dived in and asked him about the fripronil…… I don’t think he was very impressed he certainly was aware of it!!!

 

[Erichalfbee]

So part of the work Mazzamazda did was to feed the formulation to captured Asian hornets to gauge efficacy. Hornets fed with freshly prepared fipronil custard died whilst those fed with fipronil custard that was (from memory circa 10 hours old) survived.

It took a number of weeks to hone the formulation but eventually the system developed was really effective with a drastic drop in the hornet population. Most importantly, it needed a concerted campaign initially followed by routine dosing thereafter to stay on top of things. My understanding is that it was very successful as a method.

Mark posted in here about it if I recall

 

[Erichalfbee]

There was a talk from a chap at the local association about Asian hornets. He had been to jersey and was the local Asian hornet rep or whatever the term is. Knowing the likely response from my question I dived in and asked him about the fripronil…… I don’t think he was very impressed he certainly was aware of it!!!

Yes lots of people came out with the idea that it would annihilate wildlife.

 

[Karol]

Yes lots of people came out with the idea that it would annihilate wildlife.

Quite a strong miss conception. Velutina doesn't just take honeybees. Whilst it is a specialist honeybee predator it also decimates other insects which has a considerable knock on effect on the food chain - far more of an impact than the miniscule quantities of fipronil that's used in this highly targetted technique.

 

[Karol]

There was a talk from a chap at the local association about Asian hornets. He had been to jersey and was the local Asian hornet rep or whatever the term is. Knowing the likely response from my question I dived in and asked him about the fripronil…… I don’t think he was very impressed he certainly was aware of it!!!

Different location with different challenges. Use of fipronil custard is not warranted in the UK. We have no established Velutina so the risk to benefit profile doesn't support the use of this technique. Only time will tell if the present control strategy works in Jersey.