Varroa capture/kill sacrificial drone frame
- - Product number: PLF032
Drone cells are larger in size (6.6mm) compared to a standard worker cell size (5.4mm), and so these plastic frames have been moulded with the larger drone cell size.
In its simplest terms, varroa prefer to lay in larger drone brood because of the longer gestation time of the larvae and pupae. Attract the varroa to a drone frame, then once capped, remove the frame, freeze for several days, then thaw out and replace. The dead drone larvae and varroa parasites in the comb will be cleaned out by the hive bees, and new drone eggs laid and the cycle continues. This non-chemical method of killing varroa has been shown to reduce the mite load by up to 20% on its own.
Get two frames for each hive, so that while one is in the freezer the other is in the hive doing the job of attracting varroa to capture and kill. Keep those drone frames working!
This frame is coated with beeswax, so you don't need to. This gives the bees a little something to get started and is a familiar smell so the bees are happier.
We also sell Drone Beeswax foundation, both in sheet form, or already embedded in full depth and 3/4 depth frames. These will do the same job as the the plastic drone frame, and can be reused over and over again.
