Deep Drone Frame: 52 Pack

This hard plastic beeswax coated deep drone frame is for use as an Integrated Pest Management (IPM) technique for combating Varroa destructor mites. The frame is colored green so you will be able to quickly and easily distinguish it inside the hive. Simply remove the capped frame, freeze it for 24 hours, thaw, and then reinstall. We recommend having two frames for easy rotation. Bees draw beautiful drone cell foundation with it. It is so much easier to use than the straight unwired drone foundation.

Hint: If you do not have the freezer space, blast the frame at a slight angle with a garden hose. The water will shear the caps off leaving the cells intact and the drone pupae and mites will be flushed out. Just shake the excess water off and reinsert the frame into the hive.

A Scientific Beekeeping article explains the concept of drone culling using a drone frame and its benefits: "Use drone comb to 'trap' mites, and then remove those mites from the colony. This process is called 'drone comb trapping,' and is widely used with great success in other parts of the world. The concept is simple: insert a frame of drone comb into a colony at the edge of the brood nest, allow the queen to fill it with drone eggs, wait while the mites infest the cells, then remove the frame before the mites emerge. Theoretically (Wilkinson & Smith 2002), trapping with one deep drone frame once a month for four months will delay the mite population from reaching a damaging level for 2-4 months; two frames monthly will delay it for a year.