Brood removal
Brood removal is a beekeeping technique that permits to remove the brood to increase the effectiveness of acaricide treatments (e.g. oxalic acid).
Tools and materials needed:
- Possibly a knife or fork,
- Containers for storing removed frames or honeycomb parts, and a
- Gas torch to disinfect the knife or fork.
Depending on the quantity of brood and time of the year, the brood can be removed either by removing the entire frames (when there is a lot of brood present, e.g. in spring or summer, taking care not to remove the queen) or by straining/cutting off it (e.g. in autumn-winter).
The removed brood may be destroyed, or, in the case of whole frame removal, used to make artificial nuclei (if weather conditions are favourable). In the latter case, the brood frames can be removed with or without the bees on them. The brood frames covered with bees must be treated with drugs against the Varroa mites that can be also used in brood presence (e.g. formic acid) and/or by letting the brood hatch. It is important not to leave the nuclei in the same apiary to avoid re-infestation.
If a knife or fork is used to remove brood, the tools should be disinfected with a gas flame each time a new hive is handled to reduce the risk the transmission of pathogens.
If brood removal is carried out by straining in the autumn period, other health issues might also arise, such as e.g. chalkbrood (probably due to an increase of humidity in the nest).
It is important to specify that 'straining' and 'knife removal' of brood are two techniques that should only be adopted if brood size is limited to avoid excessively altering the structure of the nest.
Warnings: May depend on the regulations in force in the given country.
Please check out the B-THENET Platform for the Best Beekeeping Practices tailored to each country in the national language, co-developed with practicing beekeepers in the National B-THENET Centres of those countries (Austria, Belgium, Croatia, Denmark, Germany, Greece, Hungary, Italy, Poland, Slovakia, Slovenia, Spain, Sweden).
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