At EAS 2005 there was a presentation on doing drone removal for varroa
control. They used two drone brood frames in each hive. These were
removed on a 30 day cycle and replaced with a second set of two drone
frames. For the next 30 days the first two frames sat in a freezer. They
were brought back to room temperature and given back to the bees on the
30th day, when the second set of 2 drone frames was pulled. The bees
would then clean out the thawed drone brood frames and use the drone
larvae as protein to feed developing brood. By having four frames of
drone and cycling two frames in and out every thirty days, the
researcher was able to reduce the varroa by approximately 70%. Yes, he
warned, it is labor intensive. But for 70% varroa control, it would be
worth it for a hobbyist and even some sideliners. I think he calculated
that you could store 300 drawn drone frames in a regular size freezer
chest. He did warn that if you were planning on doing this, you might
want that extra freezer chest, so that you didn't suffer a divorce.
Frozen drone brood I guess doesn't sit well next to frozen burgers.

Note: The presenter also mentioned that in feral hives, drone brood is
placed on the edges of the comb to act as an insulating buffer. If the
temperatures drop, the drone brood becomes chilled. The bees will
naturally remove this and cannibalize it for protein to raise young. I
hope I am recalling all of this information and the numbers correctly,
but that is how I remember the presentation.

Kirsten Traynor
www.mdbee.com

>I had planned on trying drone-comb removal as a varroa control measure this year, but didn't
>get around to it- perhaps next year. I did ponder whether there was a
>market for the larvae rather than giving them back to the bees (do the bees
>eat or discard the brood?) but I filed that rumination for further chewing
>on some cold winter day.
>
>
>

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