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Clever or "Fluff and over-hyped-crap"? : The Double Screen Board

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NigelP:
Couldn't agree more Bill. I use Snelgrove boards all the time for swarm control, easy peasy. I tend to ignore all the detailed opening and shutting times of various entrance wedges, unless there is a serious flow on and use a Snelgrove board more as a physical spilt with extra entrance.
What is slightly staggering is that no-one has mentioned that Snelgrove described (and detailed)  2 methods of swarm control. One comes under swarm prevention (Snelgrove method1) and the split is done before any queen cells are seen. This is useful if you have local bees that are annual swarmers. The second method (Snelgrove method 2) is performed when you see queen cells in the hive. The great advantage of Method 2 is that initially the queen is kept in the same box as the nurse bees and queen cells. The fliers return to the lower box and as the top box has now lost all it's swarming initiators (scout bees), all the queen cells in the top box get torn  down by the bees themselves. This includes all the hidden queen cells you would have missed. It takes a leap of faith to try this for the first time, but it's one the few actions in beekeeping that works over 90% plus of the time. Bees being bees there is always an occasional exception.
Snelgrove's only mistake was returning the queen to the lower box after 3 days......but that as they say is another story.
 :cool:

Ben Framed:
NigelP I haven't read Snelgroves' instructions. I learned this method from Bob Binnie. (DSDB) I do not return the queen to the bottom after three days. In fact I leave her on top until I move the split, (after I am certain the bottom has an established laying productive queen). Then I move the entire top to a another yard. I did this after extraction this season with a few as an experiment and It worked super!!

NigelP:
Yes, exactly Ben. Very similar to the way I proceed. I often don't want a new queen so leave bottom box with frame of sealed brood and check this frame for any unwanted queen cells. Leave for 2 weeks until the "Scout bees" have matured into foragers and then "swarm fever" is over and boxes can be directly united back together.
Or if I want a new queen from a particular line I can introduce a frame with eggs to the bottom box and let them get on with it. A very flexible and accommodating method. The only drawback is I often end up with very tall stacks of brood boxes and supers.....
Snelgroves book is an interesting read, his rational about what he was doing was erroneous (he could only surmise from the limited data they had in those days).
I think like many things in beekeeping few ever read the original source of any methods and pass on the Chinese like whispers versions which then become entrenched as erroneous dogma.
For example, many in the UK use and promote Demaree as a method to go to when you have queen cells, i.e  swarm control....when it's primarily swarm prevention, a small but very important difference.

Ben Framed:
NigelP I look forward to reading Snelgroves book, thanks for your interesting enthusiastic input. I share the same enthusiasm!

Phillip

NigelP:
Its a fascinating study Ben, just don't get bogged down with his minutia on the timed  opening of this window and closing that one etc.
He was UK Victorian and the minutia and exacting detail was expected as such  :wink:
It's also a short book, so won't take long to read. He also details many of the other swarm prevention/swarm control methods that were (and still are) used/taught  today, with his thoughts on their efficiency or not as the case may be.
Snelgrove boards (UK) Double screen boards (USA) rule OKAY  :cool:

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