Shallows as part of varroa management

[sandysman]

A beekeeping acquaintance of mine inserts a shallow into the brood box to encourage the laying of drone brood. When layed up and reaching the sealed brood stage the frame is removed, then uncapped to check for varroa. Does anyone else do this?
Andy

 

[REDWOOD]

There are a lot of beekeepers that use this method but you should not do it all the time through the year as a healthy colony has drones

 

[masterBK]

Sandysman : Sacrificial drone combs are commonly used as a way of limiting the build up of Varroa in the summer. Some use a frame fitted with drone foundation and removed when the drone brood is sealed (and then frozen to kill the mites before re-inserting it back inot the BC). It is easier to insert a shallow frame of worker comb into the brood chamber. The bees will usually build drone comb on the bottom bars of this shallow frame and this is then cut off when drone brood cells are sealed and disposed off with the varroa mites trapped inside the cells. The shallow is put back right away as the rest of the comb contains worker brood.

 

[BeeJayBee]

Yes. But this year they ignored it, I don't know why.

 

[Luminos]

Yes, it was recommended to me as part of IPM

 

[Dusty Rhodes]

I use it also.

But some are squeamish about the uncapping process.

It is a bit messy, to be sure. But a good way of assessment.

Dusty

 

[Davelin]

I don't use drone culling.

Partly because it makes me a bit uncomfortable, and I have no qualms about squishing things that need squishing, and partly because I think you are upsetting the natural worker/drone balance.

 

[Margaret Elisabeth]

I don't use drone culling.

Partly because it makes me a bit uncomfortable, and I have no qualms about squishing things that need squishing, and partly because I think you are upsetting the natural worker/drone balance.

That seems odd thinking to me why does drone culling make you feel uncomfortable if you have no qualms about squishing things that need squishing?

This year I have had two lots of wild comb because of mistakes made.
The second lot included some drone cells as well as honey. Separating them out I had a look in the cells and found as many as four Varroa in a cell. Once I found this I had to decide what to do with the inevitable collateral damage. I decided the most humane thing would be to put everything in the freezer, and then in the bin for incineration. whats to squish?

 

[victor meldrew]

The use of a short frame has been around for quite a few years!
This doubles as the old German building frame , used way before varroa, in order to assess hive mood by noting the structure of comb drawn 'worker or drone'
VM

 

[itma]

A beekeeping acquaintance of mine inserts a shallow into the brood box to encourage the laying of drone brood. When layed up and reaching the sealed brood stage the frame is removed, then uncapped to check for varroa. Does anyone else do this?
Andy

It sounds to me as though you might be unfamilar with the NBU/FERA/DEFRA publication "Managing Varroa" - which describes the method and has lots of other info on varroa.
You might learn a lot by studying it.
It is a free download (link here->) http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=21261

It mentions Formic Acid - but not in the form of MAQS. Otherwise, its pretty up-to-date.

 

[oliver90owner]

Yes I was surprised of that given it has been mentioned so many times during the three years on the forum.

I see it has been updated since I last looked on the net (I have an old hard copy) and I see they expect the inspection tray to remain in place all of the time. Surprising, that.

RAB

 

[sandysman]

It sounds to me as though you might be unfamilar with the NBU/FERA/DEFRA publication "Managing Varroa" - which describes the method and has lots of other info on varroa.
You might learn a lot by studying it.
It is a free download (link here->) http://www.beekeepingforum.co.uk/showthread.php?t=21261

It mentions Formic Acid - but not in the form of MAQS. Otherwise, its pretty up-to-date.

Hi ITMA,
No I have it and I have indeed read it but I only know of one beek who practices it, hence the question. I personally haven't done it but intend to next year depending on the feedback to its effectiveness here.
Cheers
Andy

 

[Nige.Coll]

the tutor of the course i did had done this on one hive.
at the end of the course we did a varroa count.
the hive with the drone kulling frame had a lot less varroa than one that hadn't.
it was about 1/4 the varroa drop over a 10 day period.
she had done it a few times through the summer .
it's a bit gruesome seeing those white dead drones but it's a good way of keeping the numbers down when you can't really use chemicals.

 

[Luminos]

I use it also.

But some are squeamish about the uncapping process.

It is a bit messy, to be sure. But a good way of assessment.

Dusty

My hens aren't a bit squeamish about the uncapping process - they love drone brood.
And varroa