Snelgrove

[The Drone Ranger]

Hi Fatshark
Being one of only a few people using snelgroves doesn't make me an expert sadly

Single mesh is good enough I think
The stuff I have is a fine woven stainless mesh and in 10mm there are 8 wires
The wires are fine but they still take about 1/10th mm each so the squeeze space is less than 1mm
I went for 5" square and cut the hole to leave stapling or pinning room

I don't think a larger area of mesh would stop queen cells being made
They communicate through the mesh and so when you redirect bees to the bottom there are no issues
Likewise if you lift the top box down there is no fighting etc
Somebody mentioned that using a solid board vertical split there were problems with that

Timing is always tricky
2015 I went late and the oil seed rape disappeared before mating was done in the top
I think Nemphlar was going away so he went early and had a different set of problems
On balance I think late is worse
You want to get them on before any queen cells have been started
If there is rape about you want to time it so the new queen will have hatched in the top and mated before rape ends (the bottom probably will start cells)
Weather and the predicted flowering of rape aside you need to be 4 weeks ahead of your likely first swarm (boards on probably end of April ?)
It helps if you bees are fairly predictable

[fatshark]

... You want to get them on before any queen cells have been started ...
It helps if you bees are fairly predictable

I'm presuming you're talking here about swim prevention rather than control ... I've been doing my homework and realise they might be also a more flexible way of doing a vertical split and raising a new Q in the top box. My current split boards have a single entrance, so I have to turn bits of the hive round to redirect the foragers. My bees are wonderfully predictable. They almost do what I least expect.

My mesh is finer than that I think. I looks like to sort of stuff they use to make "splatter covers" for frying pans. I'm sure that's the wrong name. It's also stainless steel, so impervious to everything.

It's also got a very sharp edge as the scabs on my knuckles testify ... *

* stop laughing at the back, no references to primitive man thank you.

[The Drone Ranger]

Sounds like the same mesh fatshark
They are pretty flexible for queen rearing you can harvest cells or take them all down and put in a frame from another hive etc
The finer the wire in the wirecloth is the less damage you can do to yourself
I used JTwirecloth who cut them all to size for me but I don't know if they are still around
I better find out before I run out of them
Some info on this page on mesh and wire size
http://www.meshdirect.co.uk/wire-meh...FS8z0wodadkM-Q

Re the Swim prevention I take it you mean keeping them out of the pool
http://ucanr.edu/blogs/blogcore/post...m?postnum=5435





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[nemphlar]

I got some 22 gauge, 22 strands/inch out of a job heading for the skip which worked well last year varroa clear and single layer with no fighting. I don't have osr so spring is mainly sycamore, I would say you can't be too early as long as there are drones and they don't starve, looking forward to trying the system again
I should have added that I had initially tried a double mesh arrangement using floor type mesh above and fine below, this led to fighting and I removed the courser top mesh

[The Drone Ranger]

I got some 22 gauge, 22 strands/inch out of a job heading for the skip which worked well last year varroa clear and single layer with no fighting. I don't have osr so spring is mainly sycamore, I would say you can't be too early as long as there are drones and they don't starve, looking forward to trying the system again
I should have added that I had initially tried a double mesh arrangement using floor type mesh above and fine below, this led to fighting and I removed the courser top mesh

Hi nemphlar
The book is great but as you point out you need to think about your local conditions
Those old boys seemed to get all year round forage on their doorstep and big colonies with huge yields
I'm looking forward to this season as well

[fatshark]

Can someone in the Fife/Angus area recommend a good wood merchant?

Ideally someone who will cut ply sheet accurately to size and who sells planed softwood in the sorts of sizes beekeepers need without costing the earth. I'm not enthusiastic to pay 50p/cut when I'm already spending £25 for an 8'x4' sheet ..

Before moving north I used to buy yards of 21 x 9mm planed redwood for about £1.50 for 2.4m I think ... the same stuff from the big-name suppliers is a daft price, and the stuff I looked at recently is horribly warped.

Thanks

[nemphlar]

FS that was some deal, I've always found the prices for those common bee types sizes prohibitive. I bought a table saw from Aldi's and can now rip enough 20*10mm soft pine for my needs, off saw is good enough for most uses. Best £59 I've spent in ages. Face mask is essential
With a wee bit of help from my assistant 8*4 plywood sheets are cut to size PDQ

[The Drone Ranger]

Heres Snelgrove user writing a good article about their experiences with them (including when the hive is brood and a half at the start)
http://www.biodlarna.se/website1/1.0...ve%20board.pdf
Well worth a read if you have 10mins or so to spare

[nemphlar]

Thanks DR interesting view on the system. Just painted another 10 new poly brood boxes. Enough kit now to do all of mine this year

[The Drone Ranger]

Thanks DR interesting view on the system. Just painted another 10 new poly brood boxes. Enough kit now to do all of mine this year

So organised
Did you notice the writer was saying that getting to two or more broodboxes before the split isn't necessary
Which is something we have both found as well
Fatshark seems to have some (secret) queen raising over the Snelgrove plan in mind