Looking for a snelgrove expert.

[Levitt53]

Just seeing if this posts first as I wrote it all then it disappeared.

 

[john t]

Just seeing if this posts first as I wrote it all then it disappeared.

yes it worked

 

[Levitt53]

Right ok. I’ve split my big one hive into three today. I made one horizontal split plus a method one snelgrove, so the queen is in the bottom and there were no QCs. I want to increase obviously so assuming the colony in the top requeens successfully I want to move them elsewhere. I can’t work out how and when though. I obviously don’t want to risk moving it when the queen might be off on her mating flight. If I wait until she us laying then moving her would meant another lot of flying bees get bled off again. The best I can think of is to do it on or around day 15-16 so before she’s gone off anywhere and so effectively combining the day 14-15 door swap bleeding off of flying bees with moving it to it’s final location.

Any advice.

 

[john t]

Right ok. I’ve split my big one hive into three today. I made one horizontal split plus a method one snelgrove, so the queen is in the bottom and there were no QCs. I want to increase obviously so assuming the colony in the top requeens successfully I want to move them elsewhere. I can’t work out how and when though. I obviously don’t want to risk moving it when the queen might be off on her mating flight. If I wait until she us laying then moving her would meant another lot of flying bees get bled off again. The best I can think of is to do it on or around day 15-16 so before she’s gone off anywhere and so effectively combining the day 14-15 door swap bleeding off of flying bees with moving it to it’s final location.

Any advice.

i have used the snelgrove board many times although not for some years, with success, its so versatile especially if your bees are local ie in the garden,
what i would do is wait until the bees in the top produce a new queen and you have evidence that she is laying and have some sealed brood, once she is established move the colony to another site ,if its in the same apiary you will lose flying bees, but as the sealed brood hatches they will soon build up especially as they have a new queen, if they fail to raise a queen you can just reunite them or give them a comb with eggs from the one below

 

[Levitt53]

Ok thank you. Yes they are in the garden. We’re away from 9th June for two weeks so timing is perfect I think to then leave them to it and check them when I get home.

 

[john t]

Ok thank you. Yes they are in the garden. We’re away from 9th June for two weeks so timing is perfect I think to then leave them to it and check them when I get home.

yes leave them to it until you return ,there are a lot of good write ups on the snelgrove board,

 

[Levitt53]

Also it cause the top box any problem if you move them carefully to inspect the bottom colony?

 

[john t]

the bottom box would have been filled usually with several frames of foundation, so those bees will have a lot of work to do and a super over a queen excluder so should have plenty of room, they should not need disturbing for several weeks, if however you do feel you want to see what they are up to , simply remove the top box a few metres away and treat as one hive,

myself , i wouldn't disturb the top box as the main priority is to get them to raise their new queen,do the door manipulations on the snelgrove board on the 5th and 10th day and enjoy your holiday, when you return you will more than likely will have two colonys

 

[Levitt53]

Yes there is foundation in there and the super is empty so i’ll Leave them. Gosh nothing to do but add the board, check for queen cells and open and close a few doors. Hope you are right. Thanks.

 

[Beefriendly]

A thought. You are currently losing the flying bees to the bottom box at the moment so why not move your top box into it's final position now, rather than later? The new flying bees will re-orientate to that position and you can let the queen get on with her mating.

 

[Levitt53]

A thought. You are currently losing the flying bees to the bottom box at the moment so why not move your top box into it's final position now, rather than later? The new flying bees will re-orientate to that position and you can let the queen get on with her mating.

Well yes I could do that but it would rather defeat the object of using the board. I’ve done one ordinary split as well. It’s only my third year so I want to go through the procedure really to see how it goes. I’m just interested in what others do. I’m a little bit worried about just leaving the bottom box so I might put an additional super on when I add the snelgrove board.

 

[Beefriendly]

Well yes I could do that but it would rather defeat the object of using the board.

LOL....sometimes you just can't make it up.

 

[thorn]

Keep the upper brood box in place till the new queen is laying. Then, when you are ready to move it, shut it up in the evening, when most of the flyers have returned. Move it the next day.
If you’re moving it to a new apiary three miles away, you’ll not lose many. If you’re moving it next door, the flyers will inevitably return to the original site. There’ll be some fighting, but if they come bearing stores, they may be able to charm their way back into the original hive.
If you want it in the original apiary, see if you can find somewhere three miles away where you can site it for a couple of weeks, and move it back then. My bee buddy’s works car park hosted three hives for a fortnight one year, when we wanted to move them from to a new apiary less than a mile from the field of OSR we’d had them in for a month.

 

[Wingy]

A thought. You are currently losing the flying bees to the bottom box at the moment so why not move your top box into it's final position now, rather than later? The new flying bees will re-orientate to that position and you can let the queen get on with her mating.

If it was my overall intention to increase and create another hive in the same apiary this is how I would go, save a lot of messing.
If I was considering a later re combine then I'd go down the snelgrove route
Just my opinion to keep it simple

 

[Levitt53]

Oh I can’t decide what to do now. I wanted to see how the snelgrove board and system worked. However I am a bit concerned about leaving the bottom box for five weeks without inspecting, I don’t want them to swarm. If I’d have done a normal split I would have left more brood with the queen and the flying bees but I only left the frame she was on plus one other with young brood. I could move them somewhere else for a little while but would rather not have the hassle to be honest.

Can I not inspect the bottom box at all, except tomorrow when I an due to add the board?

 

[thorn]

Oh I can’t decide what to do now. I wanted to see how the snelgrove board and system worked. However I am a bit concerned about leaving the bottom box for five weeks without inspecting, I don’t want them to swarm. If I’d have done a normal split I would have left more brood with the queen and the flying bees but I only left the frame she was on plus one other with young brood. I could move them somewhere else for a little while but would rather not have the hassle to be honest.

Can I not inspect the bottom box at all, except tomorrow when I an due to add the board?

Unless they’ve got swarm genes, and provided you took down all the queen cells on the frame the queen was on, they’re very unlikely to swarm. If she was going to abscond, the queen would most likely have gone within 24 hours of the split.
You started out underthinking, and now you’re overthinking. Don’t worry about the bottom box. Just think about what you’re going to do with the top box when the new queen has started laying.
And in future, before you manipulate a hive, think it through, or talk it through, to the very end.

 

[Beefriendly]

Can I not inspect the bottom box at all, except tomorrow when I an due to add the board?

You can inspect the bottom box anytime you like. Simply lift the top boxes off first.
If you are intending to increase then moving the top box away now simplifies everything for you.

 

[Levitt53]

I had thought it through to be honest I just wasn’t sure when you moved the top hive away that was my initial question. However yes I am definitely overthinking it now. There were no swarm cells to start with. It was just to split them as I only had the one large hive. I’ll take a look tomorrow which is when the board should be added anyway and decide.

 

[john t]

I had thought it through to be honest I just wasn’t sure when you moved the top hive away that was my initial question. However yes I am definitely overthinking it now. There were no swarm cells to start with. It was just to split them as I only had the one large hive. I’ll take a look tomorrow which is when the board should be added anyway and decide.

i would stay with your first plan,
you will learn a great deal using the Snelgrove board,i have always introduced the board under the top hive when i first make the split, no need to wait days,as long as there is good separation between top and bottom the bees know they need to make a new queen.
there is no hurry to relocate the top hive, wait until the queen is laying or reunite if they fail to produce a queen, and the hive below will be fine for weeks, as you have depleted their expansion potential and given them lots of room and work to do,
as has been said if you are concerned about the bottom hive, then just move the top hive and inspect as usual

 

[charlievictorbravo]

You've split your colony 3 ways, with one third above the Snelgrove board and one third below it. My view is that the chance of a swarm from the small colony under the Snelgrove board is so low that you can ignore that complication for the time being.

CVB