Might not belong on this thread but here goes -
So - MC, when you do an artificial swarm do you remove the Q from the frame and place her in a hive with absolutely no brood? I am wondering if the brood aspects might explain why after Demaree/Snelgrove approach the mother Q still decides to swarm. And Kemosabe raised the point about Demaree on another thread, then picked up as a way of torturing the drones. DR - do you use Demaree, get Q-cells started then put the Snelgrove board in or do you wait until Q-cells started then just insert the Snelgrove board. I've started using the boards and I do like the approach. Maybe even using this through the winter to help with smaller colonies being kept above really strong ones so benefiting from the under floor heating.