On  7 Jan 97 at 9:53, RICHARD BARNES wrote: Re: foundation in brood nest
 
> in these drone cells.  I treated for mites and the hives survived but I had
> a large drone population the entire year.
>
> I believe that last year their was a thread about using foundation in the
> brood box to control mites by taking out this extra drone comb.
 
> With the new year coming on, I think this would be a good time to discuss
> this again.
 
This idea is used quite extensively in Europe. One frame of drone
foundation is added to the center of the brood nest at a time of year when
the hive is producing drones. It has been suggested that just an empty
frame be added, but I have at times tried this and got a full frame of
worker brood. When the frame is fully laid and sealed, remove it to the
fridge for 24 hours. This will get most of the free Varroa. The frame is
then returned to the hive to be cleaned out, the bees re-ingest what can
be re-used and the Varroa is expelled. This method is used twice, I am not
familiar with the time intervals, it should be used when the next batch
of Varroa are maturing. Perhaps Jerry might help.
        There are conflicts regarding this method. Some say that we will be
breeding for Varroa. But when you consider that the Varroa is being
removed and destroyed, I think that premise is incorrect!  As a biological
method I consider this to be a valuable alternative to Apistan.. There is at present
no method of totally irradicating Varroa, all are stop gap methods of
keeping Varroa below the economic threshold. At least this method allows
control without chemicals!
 
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