Drone brood removal

[Jon]

The main variable is temperature.
Queens can take anything from 15-18 days to emerge.

[nemphlar]

Jon thanks for the comments on varroa resistence, I hope your optimism that's its a continuum is correct. Do you know if anyone has a 4 year survivor where a brood break is not implicated.
Excuse me jumping threads

[Neils]

I know it is still early to consider this just now but does anyone have strong opinions (I know I shouldn't really ask that ) as to when the best time is to start this process using super frames?

Steven

Just to skip back a bit

My opinion is that normally (I think I'm going to be behind this year from the weather so far) that I like to get an impression of the hive first, let the first batch of drone brood be raised and I'll uncap a few forkfuls a week or so before it's due to emerge to get an idea of the mite count and judge it from there. If the first batch indicates a heavy mite count I will remove it, but I generally prefer to let the first batch emerge and then, if I feel that it's necessary, again by uncapping sections first, remove the second batch entirely. I use 14x12s and have frames wired horizontally with no foundation so I can sample 1/3rd of frame at a time.

You do need to uncap drone brood at the right stage of development, i.e. "purple eye" stage which few places tend to actually quantify in terms of development but which I tend to think is from about day 16 onwards so you do need some idea of how old the brood is. Hoiking out hundreds of immature brood is not going to tell you much.

While I think removing drone brood is a valuable part of an IPM scheme, you do need to balance the colonies' need for drones with removing mites.

We definitely have drones flying round these parts and I think we'll see an early swarming season this year. mid to late May is when I'd normally expect it to start in earnest but I think it will be much earlier this year.

[greengumbo]

Unless there are Varroa that complete their development quicker as well !

[mbc]

My thoughts on drone brood removal are that it can be a valuable technique to buy you time if varroa are getting ahead when the supers are on.
I also find giving them an area to build their own comb in very useful for a variety of reasons.
-what they do with this area is a good indication of what the colony's up to at a glance.
-giving them somewhere to put a good slab of drone brood encourages them to draw out worker foundation elsewhere in the box correctly.
-its dead simple and quick to find drone brood to sample for varroa and discard if necessary.
-the extra work involved and the available space can help alleviate the swarming urge.
Personally I dont like giving them a shallow frame, too often they attach it to the box and this increases the risk to the queen upon inspection, instead I like to cut off the bottom of the comb in a frame in each box to leave an appropriate gap, much betterer IMHO.

[Neils]

My thoughts on drone brood removal are that it can be a valuable technique to buy you time if varroa are getting ahead when the supers are on.
I also find giving them an area to build their own comb in very useful for a variety of reasons.
-what they do with this area is a good indication of what the colony's up to at a glance.
-giving them somewhere to put a good slab of drone brood encourages them to draw out worker foundation elsewhere in the box correctly.
-its dead simple and quick to find drone brood to sample for varroa and discard if necessary.
-the extra work involved and the available space can help alleviate the swarming urge.
Personally I dont like giving them a shallow frame, too often they attach it to the box and this increases the risk to the queen upon inspection, instead I like to cut off the bottom of the comb in a frame in each box to leave an appropriate gap, much betterer IMHO.

I agree about giving them a super frame. In a national I might wire horizontally once compared to the three times I do in a 14x12 or just leave them to it with an empty frame put between two drawn frames close to the outside of the hive. I tend to put mine 2-3 frames inwards. When I used nationals I found that while super frames work, they definitely like to attach the comb to the side walls and you end up trying to clean up comb rather than inspect the hive.