A friend wrote:
> OK Pete, I'll bite since this post has otherwise brought nothing but silence after glowing praise from you.  Maybe it's because I am a complete newbie, but it sounds like an interesting practice to me, yielding more info with less work/time inspecting and less disturbance.  

> Do you use this technique?  One thing is confusing/bothering me.  Is the idea to replace the building frame every time it is completely drawn?  That seems like a waste of a frame full of developing brood (assuming things are going well in the hive), although you do harvest more wax.  It also seems like extra work for the girls, as they are always working on building that last frame.

Me:

I never used it before, but for the very reasons you stated. Waste of comb building and brood. However, this year I have already begun. I placed one empty frame in each hive. Actually, my plan is to use at least two, to get a maximum amount of drone comb built.

If the comb is built entirely out of worker brood, there is no need to discard it. That's why to use wired frames, so it becomes a keeper. When it's full, simply add another empty. 

If the comb is made of drones, it will no doubt also have large numbers of mites living in it, hence one can freeze kill the whole comb. This is an excellent way to slow the development of mites.

This frozen comb would be returned to the bees and they will remove the dead brood. Then you have a nice drone comb, which could be used for various purposes -- or the wax could be melted out of it. 

So far as the extra work goes, you never get something for nothing, but in the warm season bees want to build comb and this gives them a place to do it.

Pete

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