The Ceracell Hive Defender® Beehive Floor/Base
We are so excited about the launch of this new product! It has been in development for three years, and now it is ready to protect your beehives from hornets, wasps, and robbing bees, and MORE, in a cost effective and totally natural, chemical-free way!
The concept is to use the natural instincts of hornets, wasps, and robbing bees to attract them to the trap housed under the vented Hive Defender® floor.
The best bait for hornets and wasps is the sound and smell of an active beehive. By making it pretty much impossible for them to slip in the front entrance by using the Ceracell Beast Blocker® mounted on your hive’s front entrance, they search for another way in.
Above the trap is a grid that lets the sounds and smells of the hive leak out into the trap. The hornets and wasps can’t help it, they just have to see if they can sneak into this delicious smelling and sounding hive. Once in the trap, they can’t get out and eventually die of dehydration or fighting each other. In fact, the Hive Defender® is so effective that in a short period of time it will have trapped and killed so many hornets and wasps that their colonies will weaken and die out. By using the Hive Defender® you are cleaning up the neighbourhood! You are killing off the nasties and making life so much easier for your bees.
The Ceracell Hive Defender® also catches robbing bees in the trap. Just as the name implies, robbing bees are thieves that look for the easy and safe way into the hive. Like the hornets and wasps they end up in the trap and die too. But don’t feel sorry for them. Even if they come from other hives in your apiary you need to shut down the robbing behaviour. It is counterproductive. You only want your bees out foraging and bringing in fresh nectar and pollen, not using their energy to swap resources back and forth.
With the robbing bees getting trapped and dying in the Hive Defender® they don’t return to their home hive, so they can’t do a waggle dance to encourage more of their sisters to come over and rob some more. So the Hive Defender® is effective at shutting down robbing behaviour.
The trap also serves as a way to detect and inspect your hive for Varroa. All you need to do is remove the wasp trap tray, and you will be able to see if there is mite fall. This is particularly important when you are using a treatment, to ensure that it is effective in killing the mites in your hives.
Installation
The Ceracell Hive Defender® has several parts, most of which should come to you already assembled. The large floor/base has a grid or vents which give the hive plenty of ventilation, and as noted, let the sound and smell of the hive leak out the bottom. But to get most of that oozing into the trap, the front half of the grid has a moveable vent closer. When hornets, wasps, and robbing bees are active, close the front vent. This will invite the nasties into the trap at the back.
There is also a “coloured plate” that snaps into the front entrance part of the Hive Defender®. This is used in conjunction with the Beast Blocker® to stop these nasty creatures from sneaking in the front entrance.
The Beast Blocker® is our newly designed entrance protector that quite frankly, prevents any wasps or hornets from getting in the front entrance. They then search for another way in, and that is when they get trapped. The Beast Blocker® works by training the hive’s bees to make a 90° turn to exit up and out of the Beast Blocker®. There is a grid on the front which allows plenty of front ventilation, but no unwanted guests can come in. The Beast Blocker® also has two entrance gates which can be clicked shut if you ever want to move your hive, and so securely keep the bees in the hive.
The last piece of gear is the translucent trap with four entrance cones, which slides underneath the floor at the back of the Hive Defender®. When it is in the right position there is a slight “click” as it grabs the catches. When hornets, wasps, and robbing bees are active, every-now-and-then slide the trap out and empty the trap to make more room for any other nasties that want to try and get in. It is a very heart-warming sight to see hundreds of these enemies dead in your trap. You need never lose another hive to hornet and wasp attacks!