Asian Hornet

[NigelP]

Why can they not on discovery destroy the nest on the same day

As I mentioned earlier they required specialist climbers to get access to the nest, perhaps not available on the day of discovery. But agree Mick, they do need to say where the nest are being found as it's in our own interests to know how close they are. I've been using Asian hornet traps,,,but to date wasps only. Hopefully the recent frosts up here will kill the rest off.
Seeing Jersey has now destroyed over 250+ nests we can only hope that same density doesn't occur here. But one thing is certain they are here!

[MickBBKA]

A long reach spray bar like my window cleaner uses with an electric pump and appropriate insecticide would eliminate the need for a lot of specialist climbers. Its not that complicated and would save resources for higher locations.
Maybe bedbugs are more important now.

[NigelP]

Do you think your window cleaning long reach would get to this one?

[MickBBKA]

Possibly, I can guarantee my chainsaw would though. why do they all have to be collected by a climber or cherry picker. Chop tree down, pour petrol on nest and light it up, Job done . Or you could blast it out with No8 shot like we do with grey squirrel dray's and again deal with it on the ground. Our government can't do anything the easy way anymore.
It just does my head in how hard the APHA and NBU want to make it, that's why they are so useless and should be replaced by a common sense department headed by fearless and proactive people rather than ditherers and people who want to garner data while a ecological devastator is let loose to run free.

RIP BRITISH BEEKEEPING......................

[AdamD]

At this time of year, you might find that there are queens that are mature enough that they would escape petrol-bombing or a shot-gun (despite some gratification gained in using one on a nest) and then hibernate over winter, so an insecticide that destroys all the inhabitants of the nest would be better. But it does need to be done in a timely fashion.
And we are going to need to know how to do it quickly and well.

Is the insecticide something silimar to wasp nest destroyer, do we know?

[NigelP]

Not sure what they are spraying with.
Mick could do worse with his wasp problems than to find out how the hornet hunters follow them back to their nests once they have been discovered in an area. Then all the wasps nests near his apiaries can be shot, poisoned or whatever.

[MickBBKA]

Good point Nigel. I found a nuc wiped out today Problem I have when trailing wasps is that I find I have multiple attacks from 3 or 4 different directions and at least 2 types of wasp. I think once a colony is scent marked wasps from all directions attack it. I hate the creatures. I must have lost about a dozen or more colonies in the last 3 years. Winter stores checks today I found several queens hibernating under roofs. God help us now that AH is here.

[NigelP]

Mick you should really try these tunnel entrances. I install them in all my nucs or weak hives and they work a treat.
They are called hivegate and available from Thornes.
You only need the periscope bit at the end for nucs. For hives just reduce the entrance so the tunnel is the only way in. Bees now have a long extended entrance to defend instead of the short distance across an entrance block.

[AdamD]

. I think once a colony is scent marked wasps from all directions attack it.

They do make a "bee line" to it once they get the flavour. And you can stand there swatting them away but it doesn't do any good.
I have been fortunate with wasps over the past 2 or 3 years. However when one nuc was being mercilessly attacked a few years ago, I moved it to another apiary and placed a wasp trap in its place. The wasps kept coming and the trap must have taken many hundreds. I had to empty it and start filling it again.

[MickBBKA]

Mick you should really try these tunnel entrances. I install them in all my nucs or weak hives and they work a treat.

Thanks Nigel, I think I am going to have to try them or something similar. How thick are they ? My floors are just a bee space so no more than 10mm entrance. I am not sure I can fit them without modifying all my floors. But I may just have to bite the bullet as the wasp situation is just crazy. I have numerous queen wasps trying to hibernate under hive roofs again. God knows how many are in the local area