how to use snelgrove board

[richardbees]

Drone, thanks for replying

I take my hat off to you - it was difficult enough lifting off the top bb to dismantle the stack to inspect the bottom bb with just one Snelgrove hive.....25 hives require olympic weightlifting muscles!

richard

 

[tonel]

Main colony, go through the frames CAREFULLY esp checking between comb and side bars as they love to conceal cells there, and knock them ALL out apart from one OPEN and preferably the youngest cell you can find.

Sorry to go a bit off topic but have a question about this method of swarm control (nucleus method) - if all the QCs are removed leaving one good unsealed one, won't the bees create more new QCs due to the queen being removed from the hive? Would this risk cast swarms, or would the chosen queen/bees deal with the other QCs? Am a new beekeeper so apologies if it's a daft question - am planning to use this method next year on my one hive (plan is to use the nuc to start a second colony)..well, assuming my current colony makes it through the winter of course

 

[BeeJayBee]

Sorry to go a bit off topic but have a question about this method of swarm control (nucleus method) - if all the QCs are removed leaving one good unsealed one, won't the bees create more new QCs due to the queen being removed from the hive? Would this risk cast swarms, or would the chosen queen/bees deal with the other QCs? Am a new beekeeper so apologies if it's a daft question - am planning to use this method next year on my one hive (plan is to use the nuc to start a second colony)..well, assuming my current colony makes it through the winter of course

Polyhive no longer visits the forum, so won't reply.

They won't (shouldn't) make new queen cells because they recognise that an uncapped queen cell will make them a new queen.

There's a useful leaflet on the Wales BKA site called "There are Queen Cells in my Hive". It's well worth reading, several times. It can be downloaded from here http://www.wbka.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/There-Are-Queen-Cells-In-My-Hive-WBKA-WAG.pdf

 

[Excession]

Yes, they can decide to raise more cells.

Check 4 days after doing this, and knock down any new ones. There won't be any viable stock for queen raising after 4 days of being queen less, so from here on you are good.

 

[Suzi Q]

Yes, they can decide to raise more cells.

Check 4 days after doing this, and knock down any new ones. There won't be any viable stock for queen raising after 4 days of being queen less, so from here on you are good.

Yes, in my experience, (short that is!) they always do make 'emergency cells' after the queen is removed. To OP don't forget to mark the frame with drawing pin so you can be extra careful not to damage the chosen Q cell.

 

[Hivemaker.]

There won't be any viable stock for queen raising after 4 days of being queen less

There will be if she was a laying queen.

 

[YorkshireBees]

I tried Snelgrove but couldn't see any advantage over bog standard AS method, following Ted Hooper's technique i.e. switching the original bb to the other side after a week

As well as using less equipment you are also keeping the colony as a whole in terms of nectar gathering.
Although I don't use the snelgrove method and instead a form of demaree to prevent swarming I find that the bees from both parts of the colony (in both BB's) gather more nectar faster than if you split them apart!

 

[Fahey]

There is a very good article in the July issue of Beecraft by Adrian Waring called 'brood and a half', where he uses a modified Snelgrove board to split the hive. He addss that one doesn't need to find the queen as she can be in either the top or btm. brood box. I will definitely be trying it next year.