Artificial swarm (Ian Craig)

[Mellifera Crofter]

... I tend to use the split board when I am producing a new queen but use the Demaree if I want to keep the hive strong for honey production. You could still use the Demaree if you want to produce queen cells for Nucs but I tend to use the split board

...Some people just bore a little hole in the top box to let the drones escape. They are attracted to the light.

I often put a second excluder over the supers and below the top box as insurance, as this prevents a virgin queen which hatches early in the top box from getting down into the supers. Having said that, it is bad practice to let a virgin queen escape as you should put rollers over the cells 48 hours before hatch date.

Thanks Jimbo and Jon,

I'm beginning to get a better idea of what to do when - better, but not quite there yet. When I asked about using the honey boxes as a queen excluder, it did not occur to me that a new queen in the top box might want to move down to get out. I've seen your photograph with the rollers, Jon, but have never used rollers. Perhaps that's something else I should learn about this year.

Back to the split board or Snelgrove board - another question: Why do some variations have a gauze insert, and others - like Ian's - are without?

Kitta