Entrance Barrier against Asian hornets (Vespa velutina & orientalis)

01 · WHY 130 CM OF ENTRANCE

The opposite of a reducer

The classic answer to hornet pressure is to narrow the entrance, and there lies the problem: a narrow entrance turns the front into a funnel where the hornet hunts at leisure and the foragers queue up.

This barrier goes the other way: many openings spread out, with 130 cm of total entrance length — ten times what a conventional reducer leaves. Bees come and go at several points at once, and hunting on the wing becomes much harder.

02 · THE FIVE MILLIMETRES

What gets through and what does not

The laser cut leaves 5 mm passages: the worker crosses without trouble and the thorax of Vespa velutina or orientalis does not fit. Unable to get in, many end up falling into whatever jar traps you have nearby.

And the trade-off you should know: a drone does not get through five millimetres either. This is a barrier for production colonies; on a nucleus that has to mate a queen, it is in the way.

03 · WHEN AND HOW IT GOES ON

Late June, and in the morning

It is best fitted before the pressure starts — late June — and better in the morning, so the colony has the whole day to learn the new entrances.

It mounts with a single screw in about ten minutes, and its design takes up small irregularities in the box. It arrives as a flat pack with pre-cut parts, screws and an illustrated guide.

04 · THE PLEXIGLASS FRONT

Looking without opening

The clear front lets light through and lets you watch the traffic at the entrance without taking anything apart — which under hornet pressure is exactly what you want to do several times a day.

The frame is natural wood, so it ages like the rest of the kit in the apiary.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is a physical entrance defence, not a trap: