Hornet Trap Installed
My regular open mesh floor had developed a gap at the back that hundreds of bees were using. Perhaps these bees were from this colony but they might have been robbers and I have heard of other beekeepers losing 40lb of honey in a matter of days due to wasp entering hives through a hole. So it seemed a good day to install the ApiShield Hornet Trap, which is also a floor, that Vita had supplied. Thanks Vita.
The principle behind this trap is (A) let the house bees get familiar with the front entrance, (B) open up the side entrances after 3 days and insert cones that allows hornets (including Asian Hornet), wasps, wax moth and robbers bees in but not back out. They are attracted to these side entrances as they can smell the honey, brood and wax and it is an easy way to avoid the guard bees.
There’s a drawer/tray at the back so you can examine and remove the predators getting trapped.
I’ll write a new blog post when I open the side entrances and examine the contents of the tray.
Read More
- More details including video instruction for the Apishield Hornet Trap*
- More information on the Asian Hornet, Vespa velutina
- Postscript, I wrote a review on my experience of this trap: ApiShield Review
* Paid for link
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Is there a chance it might trap some ‘innocent’ insects, such as honey bees from other hives or bumble bees?
Oh sorry, having reread it I can see it’s partially intended to catch robber bees. Bit unfair on the bees perhaps, they’re only acting on their natural instincts.
Hi Emily,
I understand your concern, and I share them. I’m looking at the bigger picture, the “evidence shows that colonies protected by the ApiShield trap show significantly higher survival rates than unprotected colonies”. I.e. A few robber bees vs. the survival of the colonies in my apiary.
That said – I will keep a close eye on the number of robber bees that die and report back.
Do you protect against wasps and hornets? Or let the honeybees defend the hive? The plastic bottle with jam and water wasp traps attract and kill non-target organisms and pollinators as well as wasps. If the Asian Hornet (Vespa velutina) arrives, the honeybees have no defence, and traps will be needed.
I see what you mean, it’s probably just me being soppy about the robber bees. We’ve used a trap for wasps in the past, but not every year. Mostly we’ve relied on strong colonies with reduced entrances. There was an awful year when I put clearer boards in and didn’t spot a small hole in the super – bees or wasps must have got in and cleared out the entire super within 24 hours. Dreading the Asian hornet or small hive beetle arriving.
I’ve had the side entrances opened for 2 days. So far: 5 wasps, no bees. Hurrah.
ApiShield does not trap non-target pollinators such as flies, beetles and butterflies. It might/will trap robber honeybees though.
Hello sorry for my bad english, my ñame is Bea and i am from Cantabria Spain, and my husband has bees, he is very worried about velutina, it Seems that this year there aré Many of them, i found the vídeo of apishield trap but is from 2015 i would like to ask you if it works. Thank you.
We don’t have the Asian hornet here in the UK – but the trap caught lots of wasps. 1000’s.