Queen excluder cage Single frame

01 · WHAT BROOD INTERRUPTION DOES

No sealed cell, nowhere to breed

Varroa breeds inside the sealed cell. If the queen is confined to a single frame, the rest of the brood hatches and is not replaced, and within days the whole mite population is out on the adult bees, in plain sight. That is the moment when an authorised treatment reaches its greatest effect, because not one mite is left protected under a capping. The tool does not treat: what it does is open the window.

02 · THE CALENDAR

24 days, or 28 if there was drone brood

Confinement lasts at least 24 days — the time the last brood needs to hatch — and stretches to 28 if there was drone brood, which is slower. In the northern hemisphere the window is July to August: before the colony raises its winter bees and while nectar is still coming in. September is too late and wintering pays for it. Day 24-26, with the colony broodless, is when the treatment goes in; then the queen is released.

03 · THE OTHER USES

Queens, combs and nucs

Outside that window it keeps working. It is used to find and catch the queen without chasing her round the nest; to introduce her into a new nuc protected while the bees accept her; to transport her with her retinue, far better ventilated than a plastic cage; and to renew old combs — with the queen confined on new wax, the colony empties the old frames and they all come out at once.

04 · WHAT IT ASKS IN RETURN

A strong colony and supervision

Worth saying what does not work: on weak colonies, under six frames of bees, do not do it. Nor is it automatic — you have to check every five to seven days, watch the honey and pollen stores and step up feeding if the colony shows signs of unrest. And the frame the queen is confined on should be new or freshly drawn wax: on old comb she is reluctant to lay.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is a single-frame isolation cage, not a treatment: the acaricide is bought separately and must be authorised. Check your frame size before ordering.