April 12, 2017 Snelgrove Method

This hive inspection revealed a bunch of swarm cells. I decided to do the Snelgrove Method 1.
May 1st Update : The Snelgrove method was a success. The old queen is laying a beaultiful pattern in the bottom brood box and no queen cells were found, the honey supers are filling. The other hive I tried to save on Apr 12, I could not do the Snelgrove method because I needed an extra hive body and comb which she didn't have well it swarmed yesterday.

[@jayknudsen1756]

Would be helpful to have a whole video on the actual snelgrove board and how it works.

[@PhilSerafinasBeeHappy]

You could write a book on this subject and he did." Swarming" by L.E. Snelgrove describes the theory and implementation. He discusses several methods of swam control. I recommend you read his book.

[@cibcebcak]

Nice, good luck...

[@miragira2190]

superb sharing.. thnx god bless you...

[@PhilSerafinasBeeHappy]

I have used method 2 last season on several hives. I had some issues you can review last seasons Snelgrove videos. I had success with method 1 on two out of three attempts in the past. In method 2 they will tear down the queen cells.

[@kareneaton3395]

nice catch before the q cells were capped. How many q cells did you leave above the Snelgrove board? what is your location?

[@PhilSerafinasBeeHappy]

In this case I cut them all out but you could leave 2 swarm cells to produce another queen. I had another hive the same day where I made 3 nucs with the swarm cells. So I ran out of bee hardware.

[@stevenscottoddballz]

The day this video was made ~ I turned 50

[@petermorris131]

why did you not use method #2 modified if you had QC present

[@PhilSerafinasBeeHappy]

I have used Method 2 last season and the bees found the queen in the upper boxes and I had a heck of a time trying to stop them. We checked this hive on May 1st and method 1 was a SUCCESS. The original queen was laying a beautiful pattern in the bottom box and no queen cells, the honey crop still in progress. Yet her other hive she had with the same amout of amount of queen cells Swarmed April 30. I was unable to do a Snellgrove on her other hive due to lack of equipment. I have recently learned that the Snelgrove method 2 modified is different from Snelgrove's original method 2 in the book and I will give it a go in the future. Method 1 is the same as the Pagden method except without the extra floor board, hive stands, innercover and top cover and moving hive bodies. Mr Snelgrove did some good observations and I applaud his work.

[@dannywillis992]

can you use a swarm sell as a queen sell to start a nuc.

[@PhilSerafinasBeeHappy]

Yes, Swarm Cells are Queen cells

[@tedsears8601]

would it work to go thru hive and "slice" the swarm cells?

[@PhilSerafinasBeeHappy]

Not really, if you miss just one cell the hive will still swarm. Also the bees will rebuild cells right after you cut them out so you would have to go into the hive every 6 days and destroy ALL the queen cells. That is very labor intensive and you probably still miss a cell.

[@tedsears8601]

mmh, ok, thanks for this, helpful! question. i had a swarm about 75 yards away, my hive seems to be complete/full, i'm thinking, it wasn't my bees. but maybe it was a segment of my bees.... is that possible, a swarm but my hive still operational, ,that they either retained the original queen or if she departed, i got a new queen from a queen cell? when time permits, appreciate your insight!

[@OkieRob]

WOW, with that many cells, it could swarm to nothing.

[@PhilSerafinasBeeHappy]

Yep, That hive would have swarmed and probably cast a secondary swarm as well.

[@OkieRob]

I bet it would of did 3 or 4 after swarms.

[@PhilSerafinasBeeHappy]

Maybe... I had one a hive that swarmed 3 times in my first year of beekeeping. Needless to say I got no honey from that hive.

[@georgecoetzee]

Invest in camera tripod