Drone Frame
Lexikon
The drone frame (Baurahmen) is an empty frame without foundation, which the bees build out themselves through free natural comb building.
The drone frame (Baurahmen) is an empty frame without foundation, which the bees build out themselves through free natural comb building. Because comb-less wax is particularly attractive to bees, they often favor such frames for building drone cells, which is why 'Baurahmen' and 'Drohnenrahmen' are often used as synonyms in practice.
For the beekeeper, the drone frame provides two useful pieces of information at once: first, its state of construction shows how well the colony is currently doing, since a colony under stress or with health problems often builds out a drone frame only hesitantly or not at all. Second, the bees' natural building drive redirects some of their energy onto the drone frame, which can have a dampening effect on swarming mood, because the bees can live out their building drive there instead of constructing swarm cells.
A widespread mistake is simply ignoring the drone frame once it is capped. Since the varroa mite preferentially reproduces in capped drone brood, the drone frame should be checked regularly and cut out in good time before the drones hatch. Anyone who cuts it out too late not only risks unnecessarily many drones but also gives the varroa mite time to multiply undisturbed in the colony.