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HiveGate - protect against wasps

HiveGate - protect against wasps

£15.50
In stock

Product Code: M1135

Description

HiveGate is an attachment that is fitted inside a full beehive and extends the defendable pathway between the outside of the hive to the point of highest defence inside the hive. This design allows the bees to effectively defend their hives from invading wasps thus preventing total hive loss and significantly increasing bee productivity. WILL NOT WORK WITH WBC or WARRE HIVES.

From observations, the majority of wasps that enter the tunnel also exit the tunnel within 30 seconds!

For more information click here.

The video below shows the HiveGate at work. The green circles show the wasps entering the hive. The red circles show the wasps being killed and disposed of.

The article below has been written for this newsletter by Bee-IQ.

Stop robbing by intruders by giving bees back the upper hand in defending themselves naturally.

HiveGateTM stops robbing by enabling bees to naturally defend their hives from intruders such as robbing bees and wasps without the use of chemicals.

So, how did it come about?

Seeing your beehives being robbed by wasps or robbing bees is frustrating. Given the right circumstances, they can take out a bee colony in days. This leads to either a weakened and less productive colony or – worst case scenario – a complete loss of a colony.

Seeing his own beehives being taken out by wasps made Kyle Atkinson – creator of HyfeGateTM – put his problem solving brain to work. The question was, why are robbing wasps and bees so successful? Why are the bees not able to defend themselves in certain circumstances? And what is the solution?

The short answer is that humans have given bee colonies a thermally inefficient box with a front entrance that is often not easy to defend. When the outside temperature starts to drop and bees stay put in their cluster, inactive for longer times during the day, wasps will be active earlier and later in the day. They work at lower temperatures. With little to no defending bees on the door during those times, it is easy for intruders to sneak into the hive, slink off to the sides and avoid interaction with bees. This easy access and avoidance of interaction means that the bees’ defensive behaviour does not properly kick in. The intruders can go about their business and after a successful robbing, bring back reinforcements.

The answer was to redesign the hive entrance. HiveGate™ is a completely new hive entrance design. It enhances the natural behaviour of bees and gives them the upper hand in defending themselves.

Coming up with the HiveGateTM idea and design was a process of many prototypes. After a shed full of variations, the final HiveGate design was there and the start-up company BeeIQ Solutions was formed in early 2019.

hyfegate box

 

 

The magic happens inside the HiveGate™, under the bee cluster

With a HiveGate installed as the new entrance to a hive, it is normal to see intruders enter the HyfeGate™ at the external hive entrance. This will happen, for example, if there are no guard bees at the hive entrance due to a low outside temperature and the bees not being active yet at the front entrance.

hyfegate diagram

 

 

The sequence of events and natural behaviours

If an intruder enters and proceeds towards the end of the HiveGate™, it reaches the internal entry to the hive. This internal entry should be positioned directly under the bee cluster, the largest concentration of bees in the hive. This is the KEY to why HiveGate™ is successful against robbing.

At this point the intruder and the bees are forced to encounter each other. This encounter initiates the intruder’s alarm pheromones and a guaranteed defence and fight reaction from the bees that are in the vicinity of that intruder. Both the intruder and the bees cannot control this instinctive natural behaviour. Guard bee or not, any bee that is close to the stressed intruder will show defensive behaviour. We let nature do the rest…

hyfegate instructions

Scenario A

If the intruder decides not to engage with the bee cluster then it can still turn around, make its way back to the front entrance of the hive and leave. This is an unsuccessful entry into the hive. The intruder won’t communicate a successful robbing back to its nest.

Scenario B

  1. Actual entry into the hive, at the internal HiveGate™ entrance, requires the intruder to fight its way in. Entering the hive at this point will be the beginning of the end for the intruder.
  2. The alarm pheromones from the intruder are well and truly initiated.
  3. A large number of bees (not only guard bees) instinctively reacts to the intruders’ alarm pheromones and continues to attack the intruder inside the hive.
  4. Due to the design of the HiveGate™, the intruder cannot see a way out of the hive. Being stressed and under attack, the intruder won’t find the way out.
  5. The bees continue their attack until the intruder is dead.
  6. No successful robbing can be communicated back to the intruder’s nest.
  7. The bees will dispose of the dead intruders through the HiveGate™ at their convenience. You will find the dead intruders outside the hive in the morning.

HiveGate™ IS AN INVESTMENT IN THE STRENGTH AND HEALTH OF YOUR HIVE

  • Less robbing means stronger colonies.
  • Bees spend less energy on defending the hive.
  • More productive hives.
  • Fewer colony losses.
  • Fewer pathogens from intruders.

INSTALL HiveGate™ ALL YEAR ROUND OR POST HONEY FLOW

  • Easy to install.
  • Fits on different types of hive bases.
  • No continuous monitoring needed - set and forget.
  • Durable, made of high quality ASA plastic, UV protected.
  • Chemical free pest control.
  • Supports natural bee defensive behaviour.
  • Does NOT interrupt the bees’ normal hive entrance behaviour (unlike screens). The bees immediately enter the HyfeGate™ entrance as normal.
  • No need to move hives that are under attack to a different location.

HiveGate has been installed in countries around the world and is gaining traction since its New Zealand launch early in 2019. HiveGateTM received a lot of attention during the API NZ conference in 2019 and APIMONDIA, Montreal in 2019. E.H. Thorne introduced HiveGateTM in the UK in 2019 as well and is continuing to carry it in its product line.

HiveGateTM from BeeIQ Solutions has received very positive feedback from beekeepers. Click here to read what some people said.

Watch the video of the HiveGateTM prototype in action.

For further explanation on bee defensive behaviour, watch Kyle’s presentation at APINZ Conference, June 2019. Understanding bee behaviour.

Instructions on installing HiveGateTM can be found on the BeeIQ Solutions website.

 

Specifications

HiveGate

Height: 272mm

Width: 150mm

Length: 140mm

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.

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