<I wonder if    anyone is familiar with the construction of the
<above device? In german it is called "Baurahmen" and enables
<the beekeeper to see activity on the comb without opening the
<hive.
 
I will try.
 
Please keep in mind that in parts of Germany and Switzerland old style
hives are worked from behind and not from the top as is usual in Langstroth
hives. This means: In order to get to the front most frame all others have
to be removed first! If you want to check whether your bees are going to
swarm or not you have to remove a couple of frames first, rather then
lifting a super. In order to avoid this work the last frame is an empty
one, called "Baurahmen (building frame)" in German. During swarming time
(May and June around here) bees are usually busy filling this empty space
with comb, usually drone comb. The theory now goes if the bees are going to
swarm they will greatly reduce or stop comb building activity shortly
before they leave. Observing this building frame thus will give you an
indication what the bees are up to.
 
This stopping of comb building is certainly not a sure sign but good enough
for practical purposes. That's why it is popular for beekeepers to use this
building frames. In addition it has the advantage that young bees always
have an opportunity to build combs which helps in reducing the swarming
tendency.
 
In my case I welcome these additional drone combs as an opportunity to get
rid of some Varroa mites at the same time. As is well known mature Varroa
mites prefer to enter drone cells for mating and egg laying. After the
cells are capped I remove the combs, deepfreeze them and recycle the wax.
In itself this drone comb removal is not enough to keep a complete check on
the mites. However, data gathered clearly shows that it will help reduce
the total mite count reached by the end of the season.
 
The wax is of a special quality because it has never come in touch with any
alien substance and I keep it for people that want to use it for medical
ointments etc.
 
I hope this explanation helped in making clear what this "building frame"
is and why it is used. It's an old technique originally used to just
monitor bee temper. With the arrival of Varroa mites it has shown advantage
in "syphoning off" Varroa mites.
 
My best wishes, good luck and few Varroa problems
 
Hans
 
____________________________________________________
Hans-Ulrich THOMAS. Beekeeper & collector of books about:
 
- bees and beekeeping
- ants (yes these small little buggers!)
- nature printing
 
e-mail: [log in to unmask]
CompuServe: 100045,2556
Fax: +41 1 633 10 77
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