Time is Up!

Some products were removed from your basket.

uk-flag GBP (£)
Wishlist
0

Your Basket

Your cart is empty

For expert advice contact us on

+44 (0) 1673 858 555 or sales@thorne.co.uk

Gard'Apis - Complete Asian Hornet Trap Kit

Gard'Apis - Complete Asian Hornet Trap Kit

£23.99

Buy 2 or more and pay £22.79

Buy 5 or more and pay £21.59

Buy 10 or more and pay £20.39

Buy 20 or more and pay £19.19

Buy 100 or more and pay £17.99

In stock

Product Code: M9960

Description

Complete kit to build an Asiatic Hornet Trap which includes :

– Queen Excluder mesh body

– 2 End cones

– 2 pairs of discriminatory nozzles

– Mesh clip

– Transparent bait tray

The Gard’Apis trap is : 

  • Designed to be highly selective and only trap Asian Hornets.
  • Designed to do no harm to other insects
  • Easy to use
  • Quick to re-deploy

Here is a short piece from the Gard’Apis developers

The first key ‘idea’ was to use something that all beekeepers have – the queen ‘excluder’ is used as a quick, readily available, and cheap body for the trap.  One half of a Dadant 425×500 queen excluder is use for each trap. These are supplied with the Complete Asian Hornet Trap Kit.

The next idea was to to use ‘cones’ to funnel the hornets into the trap, but sized to prevent as much by-catch as possible. Of course, any smaller insects, like bees and wasps, can escape through the sides of the trap.

Initially cones were made of mesh and pipe fittings, to demonstrate that the trap would work.  Insect behaviour is hard to predict and so it was necessary to test that every permutation still worked. We 3D printed our prototypes to allow quick field trials.   Our first designs used a complete queen excluder, but hornets tended to crawling on the outside near the bait rather than finding their way in through the cone.  Once we switched to the half excluder the Asian Hornets virtually lined up in the cone to be caught!

After 26 variations we arrived at a design that worked and worked extremely well.  We then had the cones injection moulded to produce the final product that you see today.

ByCatch: A Serious Problem

ByCatch is a real problem. 

Killing other insects in order to also kill Asian Hornets is counterproductive and can be more of a problem than doing nothing.  It is easy to underestimate the power that humans have and the lasting harm we do when we intervene in the environment to trap and kill insects. 

Pollinators live in a delicate balance with their environment which also includes insects that predate on them.  Indiscriminate killing upsets this balance and even a few traps can result in a crash in insect populations over a large area.  Insects have enough problems to deal with without adding to them.  The Gard’Apis trap is specifically designed to reduce Asian Hornet populations without impacting other insect species.

Please do not use attempt to control Asian Hornets by using non selective kill traps such as beer traps.

Zero-Bycatch:  How to use the Red and Orange Nozzles

Each Gard’Apis kit comes with red and orange coloured nozzles that fit to the cones.  These are designed to all but eliminate bycatch.

In the spring use the Red nozzle.  In spring the queens are out foraging to feed their first nests.  Every Queen killed kills an entire nest and so it is particularly important to have traps out to when the Queens first appear. Queens are larger than their workers and so the nozzles are larger to allow them in.  However European hornet queens are also out and the nozzle is small enough so that they cannot enter.  All other insects that might be attracted to the trap (including bees) are either small enough to easily escape through the mesh body of the trap or are too large to get through the nozzle.

The Asian Hornet Queens do not leave the nest again after their first brood of workers emerge.  The workers are very slightly smaller than their queens and this is why we can switch to the Orange nozzle.  Switch to the orange nozzle 6-8 weeks after the first Queens are sighted.   These nozzles allow the Asian Hornet Workers to enter the trap but not the European Hornet Workers that also appear around this time.

Our experience has been virtually zero bycatch.  If there is bycatch place the trap in a freezer until all the insects stop moving, open the trap and remove the bycatch (a spoon works well), put the insect to be saved outside to recover, and return the trap, complete with hornets back to the freezer for an hour or two to kill the remaining occupants.  Then rebait your trap,  leave a couple of dead Hornets in the trap too as this also seems to lure more Hornets.

 

Specifications

Delivery

Delivery

Standard UK delivery is FREE on all on-line orders over £100 (including VAT) and all telephone and postal orders over £200 (including VAT).  Excluding glass jars, fondant, syrup, some large hives and some pieces of extraction equipment.

Glass Jars are sent at the consignees own risk. We regret neither ourselves or the carrier will take responsibility for breakages.

It's also free for orders of any value if you opt to collect from one of our branches (some items do not apply). This is subject to availability.

There may be an additional carriage charge for some heavy and bulky items to Northern Ireland, the Scottish Highlands and islands, Isle of Man and off-shore islands.

Products may be sent out from multiple locations and therefore may arrive separately, but you won't incur additional delivery charges as a result.

Orders are sent out as quickly as possible but there may be occasional delays during the busy season or if an item is out of stock.  We will contact you if there is expected to be a significant delay with your order. 

Although we try to send out complete orders there will be occasions when some items are out of stock.  In these instances we may send your order in several parts.  You will not incur additional delivery charges as a result.

If you'd like to have items sent to separate UK addresses, please complete a separate order for each address. A separate delivery charge will be made for each address if applicable.

Carriers

Orders weighing less than 2kg are sent standard 2nd class Royal Mail.  If you would like your order sent 1st class then please contact us for a quote or choose 1st class in the delivery options.

All orders weighing over 2kg are sent via carrier.  We use Parcel Force and FedEx for UK and international parcels.  We may also send large orders via a pallet service.

On receipt of your order, please check the goods thoroughly. Ensure any consignment note from the carrier is clearly marked ‘unexamined’ – deleting the words ‘in good condition’.  We regret we cannot replace any damaged goods unless this has been done.  Shortages and breakages must be advised within 10 days of delivery.

If there is a problem with the carrier, please contact us immediately on 01673 858555 or e-mail sales@thorne.co.uk.  Please do not attempt to contact the carrier as we are able to deal with this more quickly and efficiently.

Carriers may leave parcels in a safe place at our instruction.  If you do have a safe place the parcel can be left or a neighbour that will accept the parcel then please tell us when you place your order.

Orders will be sent to the billing address unless an alternative delivery address is specified.

Queens

Queens are sent on a 1st class Royal Mail.  Queens are sent in a travelling cage with several attendants, candy and full introduction instructions.

Our Queens are British Hybrids and are extremely balanced, user friendly bees.  They are all mated but not clipped or marked.

Bees

Our bees are sold in a travelling box in a six frame nucleus.  These can be collected from either our head office at Rand, Thornes of Windsor, Thornes of Stockbridge or Thornes of Devon.  Bees are pre-ordered and a non-refundable deposit taken.  We will contact you when your bees are ready for collection.

All our bees are sourced from reputable breeders in England. 

Collection Only

Due to the nature of some of our products, certain items are collection only.  These include Acetic acid and six frame nuclei.

Returns and Refunds

All our products are guaranteed for 12 months.  Konigin extractors have a four year warranty.

Goods may be returned to us for a full refund or exchange within 28 days providing they are undamaged and we receive proof of purchase.  Goods that may have been ordered as a gift can also be exchanged for Thorne vouchers if the product is not required.

Goods can be returned to our head office at Rand or to any of our branches.

We cannot refund or exchange personalised labels unless they have been incorrectly supplied. 

We cannot accept returns or refunds on AVM-GSL medicines (MAQS, Apivar, Apilife Var, Apiguard, Apistan, Api-bioxal, Oxybee).  These medicines can only be refunded if they were sent in error or damaged in transit.

By continuing to browse this website you agree to our use of cookies Accept