Bees protected from Asian hornet attacks by award-winning French device

A hobby beekeeper who invented a device to limit the destruction of hives by Asian hornets has won a top business award for women entrepreneurs.

The Stop-It device, and its successor Stop-It Max, give bees the chance to escape Asian hornets which can ambush them as they return to the hive with pollen.

“A nest of Asian hornets eats 12kg of insects a year,” Frédérique Ripet told The Connexion.

“When they can find them their preferred food are honey bees and a honey bee usually weighs just over a gram. If you do the maths you can see why they cause such devastation.”

Read more: The big difference between keeping bees in France and the UK

Saving hives from attack

Ms Ripet started beekeeping in 2014 after her curiosity was whetted while working as a buyer for a firm selling medicinal pollen.

It was when her own hives were attacked that she vowed to find a solution.

“I realised that you only need three Asian hornets to hover around a hive for the bees to be too terrified to go out,” she said.

“If they do not go out there is not enough pollen to feed the larvae and they start to die. The queen stops laying eggs and the hive collapses.”

She tried numerous products against the Asian hornets but nothing worked.

Simple chicken wire in front of the hives initially seemed to offer the best protection, even though it can damage bees’ wings.

“I developed it using plastic which does not damage the wings, and with fewer holes available to the bees in three dimensions which are too small for hornets to fly through.

“This means the hornets have to land on the Stop-It device and walk towards the nest, which lets the bees see them and use another entrance.

“And because the hornets are stopped and slow, in strong hives the bees are even sometimes able to attack and kill them.

"You always lose some bees with the device but fewer than without and the hive can stay alive and healthy.”

Read more: What is France’s new national plan to fight against Asian hornets?

French beekeeping traditions

Costing €28 the Stop-It can be adapted to hives from all over Europe and the UK – each country has different hives and beekeeping traditions.

Ms Ripet set up a company called Api & Bee near Agen (Lot-et-Garonne) to market her devices.

Pushed by her husband and friends she entered and won a contest designed to encourage women entrepreneurs over 45 years old. The contest is run by Helena Rubinstein cosmetics company, now part of L’Oréal, and an association called Force Femmes.

“It was quite a business, completing information about myself and my company and going through the group stages before a final interview in front of very high level judges in Paris,” she said.

“I was very happy to win.”

Part of the prize includes business coaching which Ms Ripet hopes to use to expand her business.

Local campaigns

She is also active in other measures to try and reduce the impact of Asian hornets.

“Of course bees are affected but in the 12kg of insects eaten by one nest are many other insects and the impact this has in reducing biodiversity is terrible,” she said.

“We are now realising that the only realistic way of reducing numbers is by coordinated trapping of hornet queens in the spring. We are working on a local level throughout France on campaigns and finding which are the best traps. 

"It is something that concerns everyone."