>
> >It is possible for a Langstroth frame to be built out in about one hour
> from a pencil thickness bead of wax


Wow!  The rate at which a strong colony can build comb astonishes me!

Dave, I'm trying to get a feel for the value of drone trap frames.  The one
property of them that stands out to me is that they can be used to "manage"
where the bees place drone comb in the colony, by giving them a place to
build it.

It may be that a partial frame of drone brood, as in my trap frames, may
satisfy the colony's desire to build drone comb and raise drones, thus
eliminating most volunteer drone brood elsewhere.  It may also be, as Alden
and I discussed, that we might be able to strongly affect varroa buildup
with only one or two removals of the patch of drone brood at an appropriate
time.

The question would be to determine the best time.  I know that the first
round of drone brood in my colonies (after winter oxalic dribble) contain
almost zero mites, so removal at that time would only waste colony
resources.  This is also the generation of drones that mate with my raised
queens.

It may be appropriate to simply monitor the drone brood during normal colony
inspections with a fork (although this method as an indicator of mite
population in the colony has been shown to be unreliable), and to cut out
the drone brood when you see a significant mite infestation.

The question would be:  Under what circumstances does the benefit of
removing the mites in a frame of drone brood outweight the cost for the bees
to replace it?

I solicit any feedback from anyone who has field experience with this,
either on or off list.

Randy Oliver

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