Trap Comb
Lexikon
The trap comb, sometimes also called a comb pocket or cage, is a tool of biotechnical, i.e.
The trap comb, sometimes also called a comb pocket or cage, is a tool of biotechnical, i.e. chemical-free, varroa control. It usually consists of a normal comb enclosed on both sides by a queen excluder, so that the queen is trapped inside it but can still be tended by the worker bees. Because she can now only lay eggs on this one comb, her entire egg-laying is concentrated there.
Because the varroa mite reproduces exclusively in capped brood, many mites migrate specifically into the cells of the trap comb over the following days. After about nine days the comb is fully capped and is removed from the colony, together with the mites enclosed in it, and melted down. The queen then receives a new, empty trap comb, so the process repeats, usually several times at intervals of about nine days each.
The practical benefit of the trap comb is that a large part of the mite population is removed from the colony without any medication, so that no residues form in honey or wax. At the same time, the queen keeps laying continuously throughout the entire procedure, which keeps the colony stable and makes it easy to find the queen for further beekeeping measures.
A common mistake is carrying out the comb change too late, because as soon as the first mites could hatch from capped cells of the trap comb, the effectiveness of the procedure drops markedly. Finding the queen again at every change also takes practice and time, which is why the trap comb suits smaller operations better.