Snelgrove

[badger65]

Could I have your thoughts.
On Wednesday I split a hive with a Snelgrove board. Old box on top. New box underneath with new foundation the queen on a frame with brood and eggs. Today they tried to swarm but returned within 20 mins as the queen is clipped. Do you think it was because it was a full box of foundation apart from the one frame of brood. Queen is certainly in the bottom box and there were no QC.

 

[Murox]

Only one frame brood with queen ? She cant lay in foundation and most nurse bees are up top. What are you aiming to achieve ?

 

[john t]

i have to say i am a fan of snelgrove and have been using his methods for many years never had any problems,
if a frame of unsealed brood is left with the queen and all the flying bees they are unlikely to abandon the unsealed brood, well thats the theory

 

[Beefriendly]

Where queen cells present when you did the manipulations?
If so should be method 2 and queen in top box for 3 or 4 days before moving her downstairs.

 

[Eyeman]

Here's an excellent PDF by Whally Shaw which summarises Snellgrove's original paper.
http://www.wbka.com/wp-content/uploads/2013/06/The-Many-Uses-Of-A-Snelgrove-Board-by-Wally-Shaw.pdf

 

[Murox]

You might find this description with images useful too.

http://killowen.com/swarmcontrol2.html

 

[badger65]

Thanks for your replies. I think the problem is there were a few eggs on the frame below. I will check the status today.

 

[badger65]

No queen cells. I think they didn't like the fact that the box was full of foundation. I did a raid on a few hives for drawn foundation and dropped in a frame of capped brood. I found the queen under the hive and popped her back in.

 

[badger65]

Thank Murox this is the one I use. Eyeman, I find that document a big hard going. The link from Murox is a quick read.