First, a reference and revision. Ontario Bee Journal, vol 29, no. 3, June 2010, p. 25, Drone Brood Removal for the Management of Varroa Mites: "...Leave the drone bood frame in for 24-28* days ...*If freezing drone frames you should replace the frames every 24 days, as the bees only need a few days to clean out the dead drone brood." This is a revision from my seminar notes: We are now on a 24-day schedule. 14 July the drone frames must be switched. The JBeek & C
o. will be away; perhaps Patrick will be free to come along and help on Monday, 12 July. This morning we accomplished the following:
Removed drone frames from each hive, and replaced the west hive with their own frame, frozen after removal during our last session, and thawed 24 hours before replacement in the hive; we gave the east hive a new frame of drone comb, and I was glad to see that they'd raised drone comb on the plastic drone-foundation we won in a draw at our bee-seminar this spring (was wondering if had painted wax too thickly).
Gave each hive a new honey super. The west hive's single honey super was perhaps half full, but had enough weight to warrant a second honey super; the east hive's top super was estimated by the JBeek's dad to weigh 80 lbs.; the newer super underneath was also heavy; we gave this hive a third, empty honey super on top of the queen excluder, and replaced the two top supers in order. These honey supers have foundation, no drawn comb.
Weeded in front of the hives.
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