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Chronological Thread  
  • From: Randall Austin <ra41717 AT gmail.com>
  • To: Jerry Schoendorf <jerry AT schoe.com>
  • Cc: NC Beekeepers Orange County <ocba AT lists.ibiblio.org>
  • Subject: Re: [ocba] cleaning drone frames
  • Date: Mon, 1 Jul 2013 14:53:38 -0400

Jerry,

When I pull drone frames, I usually leave them in the freezer until I'm ready to give them back to the hive. Then I let them warm up for a little while and put them in the hive for the bees to clean out, dead drones and all.

Otherwise I uncap the cells and bang them to force the drone pupae to pop out. Then I store them as I do any other empty brood comb.

One note about drone frames for varroa mitigation: this only works in the spring. Drone season is the same time as swarm season. Generally, well-behaved queens won't raise all that many new drones in the summer, and certainly not in the fall.

Note #2: drone-trapping may help against varroa in a small way as an on-going "supportive strategy" but if mite counts become alarming, it will be too late for them to make any difference.

Randall Austin


On Mon, Jul 1, 2013 at 1:43 PM, Jerry Schoendorf <jerry AT schoe.com> wrote:
A month ago during the nectar flow I added a green frame of drone foundation into a hive expecting that it would be drawn out and I could use it later in the summer/fall in case mite counts became alarming. About 21 days later it was fully drawn and filled. I removed it, froze it, wrapped it in plastic and went on vacation. Returning to the project a couple weeks later I found it was moldy and smelly. I hosed off the dead larvae and have put it in a light and air location for storage until it might be needed. I imagine that the bees will make short work of the rest of the cleaning.

However, it finally occurred to me that it would be good to ask how others clean up drone foundation?? Is there a better way??

Thanks!

Jerry
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