6 1/4" Green Plastic Drone Comb Frame

This 6 1/4" Green Plastic Drone Comb Frame features a larger cell pattern encouraging the bees to build drone comb in this reusable comb frame.

This green drone comb frame is made of a one-piece plastic frame and foundation design and covered with natural beeswax coating, making it impervious to wax, food-safe, and safe for producing organic raw honey.

This drone comb frame is integral to varroa mite management in beehives. Insert one drone frame per hive and allow the bees to cap the cells. Then, freeze the frame overnight to kill mites and drone larvae.

After thawing, drag your capping scratcher across the cells, breaking them open, then place the frame back in the hive for the worker bees to clean out the dead drones and mites. This way, you can reuse the drone frame and get rid of nasty Varroa mites.

Green Plastic Drone Comb Frame Features

This drone comb frame is made of one-piece food-grade plastic and is designed as a drone comb with large drone cells. Features:

• 100% beeswax coating
• Food grade plastic
• 7.1 mm cell size
• One-piece design requires no assembly
• Impervious to wax moth or rodent damage

Although this drone comb is shown in green, the color may vary. Use with 6⅝" (16.83 cm) Hive Bodies.

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How the Green Plastic Drone Comb Helps Control Varroa Mites

A drone comb is a specialized part of a beehive specifically designed to encourage the growth of drone bees. In particular, drone comb contains drone poop, drone larvae, and a lot of Varroa mites.

That’s because Varroa mites prefer the drone cells because of their larger size. When the worker bees cap the cells, you can destroy that part of the comb or freeze it overnight or for up to 48 hours to kill the mites, then return the comb hive after thawing and uncapping.

Used as part of an integrated pest management system, drone foundation are essential for managing varroa mites. It’s called a green plastic drone comb simply because it's made of green plastic.

Freezing the drone comb frame kills both the mites and drone larvae. This drone foundation method is a critical part of an integrated pest management program. It offers a cheap non-chemical way to control mite levels within the hive.

When the mites are dead and the drone comb uncapped, simply return the green drone comb to the hive.

As the bees refill the drone frame, remove the frame again, and the process is repeated by placing it in the freezer overnight. The bees will clean the dead drone larvae for you once you return them to the hive.

Tip: we’ve found that using deeper hive bodies seems to help since bees build drone comb frame toward the bottom of the hive.

Some bee farmers simply cut it away and destroy it, since you don’t need that many drone bees anyway.