End of the Trapping Season: Assessment and Outlook 🐝
Dear Ornetin Community,
The Asian hornet trapping season is coming to an end. Although their arrival has been later in some areas, the pressure has gradually increased, and this year again the threat has been particularly strong, according to our own experience.
The time has come to take stock of the year and consider the action plan for 2025.
Spring trapping
Ornetin was back in action in March for the queen moth trapping campaign.
During this phase of the campaign, we methodically counted the number of queens trapped, as well as the collateral effects on other species, which, all in all, turned out to be very limited. This has also given us a few points for improvement, which we hope to incorporate next season.
The results of this campaign are documented in several videos available on our YouTube channel, as well as in a review article we’ve written here.
Summer/fall trapping
After a two-month break, Ornetin was back in action in July for the worker trapping campaign. He performed as expected, with regular catches. In October, Ornetin was particularly effective, with jars filling up in just 24 hours, significantly reducing the pressure on the hives, as shown in the image below.
We weren’t the only ones to notice this. At the apiary school in Givors (69), they captured 580 hornets in 24 hours with 4 Ornetin! Other users in different parts of France and Europe have also reported very interesting results.
Ruchers d’Api25 also put Ornetin to the test, demonstrating how simplicity and efficiency can go hand in hand.
R&D continues
Although the Hornet has been present in Europe for 20 years now (November 2004), there are still many grey areas to explore in order to refine our trapping techniques.
In the spring, a nest was set up near our office, enabling us to track it continuously with a camera for two months. This tracking generated thousands of images, assembled in a single video. It retraces the evolution of the primary nest, from D0 to D54, after the emergence of the first workers.
For the first time, we have also succeeded in marking the founding queen, to help us track her in our study.
This season, we also experimented with different baits (sweet, protein, fermented…) and evaluated the positioning of the jars according to the season.
Many of you also shared your methods and successes, which gave us great pleasure! We plan to formalize these lessons and make them available to all trappers in the coming weeks.
Fully embracing integrated pest management
In 2024, we structured our integrated pest management around several essential elements:
- trapping foundresses in spring with Ornetin,
- trapping workers in summer/autumn with Ornetin,
- installation of muzzles on hives,
- the use of a harp in the apiary to reinforce protection,
- adapting feeding techniques in autumn, to compensate for the lack of resources due to the impossibility of foraging.
Many thanks for your support!
Our sincere thanks to all those who continue to place their trust in us. Thanks to your support, we continue to improve tools and methods that help protect our bees and biodiversity.
We hope to live up to your expectations and are already working on actions for the 2025 campaign.
The Ornetin / BroodMinder team