A little bit on the trap evolution –

The first key ‘idea’ was to use something that all bekeepers have – the queen excluder’ as a quick, cheap body for the trap.

Then some ‘cones’ to funnel the hornets into the trap, but sized to prevent as much by-catch as possible. Of course anything small, 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.

Then these parts were 3D printed to allow quick field trials. At first the trap was a complete excluder in length, but it was found that the hornets spent their time crawling on the outside and not finding the way in.

So the trap was shortened, and after a lot of success – the cones were injection moulded (after 26 versions were trialled).

Coloured nozzles are fitted to the cone according to the time of year…
Red to allow queen Asiatic hornets in, but not European
Orange to allow worker Asiatic hornets in, but not Eurpean.

Our experience has been virtually zero-bycatch. The traps may be emptied, or place in a freezer for an hour or two to kill the occupants.