🐝 Drone trapping combs. Mechanical method of Varroa mite control. Orara Valley Honey. Sept 2024.

🐝 In this video, I inspect my beehives and remove capped drone brood from drone-trapping frames
🐝 This method of Varroa mite control works by trapping varroa mites under the capping of drone cells
🐝 Varroa mites are attracted to drone cells because they have up to double the reproduction rate due to the 24-day life cycle of drones versus the 21-day life cycle of workers.
🐝 It is essential to remove the drone comb between 10 to 24 days. Early removal will result in no mites trapped. Late removal will result in excessive reproduction of mites.
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[@jotttn]

And now it’s the Southern hemisphere’s turn to make bee videos 😊 I use this method ½ way through the season to knock back mites and it works so well

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

Thanks Jon, I make them all year. Varroa is a new topic for us.

[@keithsteele5580]

Thanks Glenn great video, just getting my drone frames out , to put it the freezer, keep up the good work , cheers Keith ☺️

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

Thanks Keith

[@FNQ_BEES]

Love watching you work mate. Cool, calm and with efficient decision making. Have you done a long term review video of the HiveIQ’s yet?

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

Not yet but that is a great idea.

[@wclearwater1]

great video Glen.... might have missed something somewhere, but why would the bee's necessarily rebuild your cutouts with drone size cells and not worker cells ?? and I'm also guessing that once you get your green drones frames underway full time you will always have a drone frame in the brood box, IE one lot freezing and one lot being drawn and laid in ?? cheers for the great video ...

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

Thanks for watching my videos & commenting. In general, given the opportunity and the right conditions, bees will build around 20% of drone brood. They may build worker cells if that is what they need. In my experience, any empty space left in a brood box will be quickly filled with drone brood in spring/summer. Yes, my long-term intention is to use green combs interchanged from the freezer.

[@lindsaybancroft4629]

Thanks Glen, a great educational video once again. No sign of varroa in SEQLD just yet but your drone checking method will work well in early detection I feel. 👍🐝

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

I suspect they are there just need to be found.

[@lindsaybancroft4629]

@@mt.corambaapiculture I keep looking 👍

[@robertfranc2365]

Definitely crossed the boarders in the early days... ​@@mt.corambaapiculture

[@anthonywhitmore5850]

I can’t believe you were criticized for squashing bees. From what I have observed, considering that you are a commercial bee keeper, with hundreds of hives, and not a 4-hive hobbyist like me, I am amazed at how well you treat them. I struggle to not squish the poor dears when trying to put back on the heavy supers. No sooner do you smoke them away, they come back and they always walk on the lip right where you want to land the super. I hate squishing them but I would rather have the hive back together quickly than mess about trying to save 1 or 2 bees from being squished. The Irony is, we will happily alcohol wash 300 bees from a hive of 40+ thousand but squishing 20 (?) bees during an inspection is to be criticised. I am sorry but that is just not fair. I love your videos as they are genuine reality bee keeping in OZ and I learn much. In fact, you have just reminded me to check my special drone trapping comb I built and installed some weeks back. So, this video of you removing and freezing drone comb was perfect timing. I have Varroa in most of my hives here in Sydney so I am ahead of you in treatment phases but the drone freezing was still good advice. Keep up the excellent videos, they are appreciated

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

Thanks, Anthony. I'm putting myself out there so I will get the odd weird comment. So long as they don't mind me telling them off, it's OK. I have 60 hives at the moment but can manage 100 when things are going well. Drone trapping is a valid method of Varroa control, but you should remove it before it hatches.

[@petrugrigorecordos1505]

Una pregunta de donde as comprado los laterales Hoffman de plástico que parese qué son mui practicas.Graciss.👍🐝🐻

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

I didn't buy them they were given to me. They were made by a company here in the 1980's & to my knowledge they are no longer available.

[@bennybeekeeper]

Could you sell the drone brood as fishing bait?

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

Possibly

[@carmelgerdsen2399]

Thanks for sharing, very useful. Not in Vic where I am (yet...) 🤞 I'm wondering instead of the wooden bar half way, I could just do 2 or 3 passes of wire instead of 4 to make cutting the comb off easier.

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

Yeah that would work. Some people are putting Ideal frames into FD boxes & letting the bees hang drone brood off the bottom. In the long term I intend to go to the green combs & retire the half frames to the honey supers.

[@carmelgerdsen2399]

​@@mt.corambaapiculturejust curious, what advantages are there for you using the green combs?

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

@@carmelgerdsen2399 1. Fast to set up, just a coat of wax vs wiring & foundation. 2 They last forever. 3. No mess cutting the cells out. 4. Less resources wasted - the bees don't have to rebuild the comb. 5. Better control over timing - The bees just have to clean out the cells when they are replaced from the freezer. Probably a few more when I think of them Good topic for a video.

[@rtxhoneybees]

Let's hope your bee squishing troll doesn't realize you are killing thousands of drones! Good luck on your battle with the little devils! I'm sure drone trapping will help but you may want to work in some brood breaks at some point. Brood breaks + OAV is very effective but I understand OAV isnt an option currently. Thymol supplement is something I think may have some promise, but i am just starting to explore that.

[@mt.corambaapiculture]

Thanks Phillip, yeah I don't think she will bother me again. I'm looking at all the options. The only legal treatment I can use at the moment with supers on is Bayvarol (Flumethrin) OA is in widespread use at the moment despite despite it being off label. Hey mate can you email me your mailing address I would like to send you a gift. [e-mail]