As long as the subject of what to teach to the nubee has come up, I have a 
question for the group.  As we find more and more beekeepers in urban areas, 
swarming becomes a greater concern - the good neighbor policy.  There are 
two pieces of equipment that I have never discussed in my beginning 
beekeeping classes that I think are useful in dealing with swarming - the 
Snelgrove board and the slatted rack.  I am considering adding these to my 
curriculum.

I am impressed by how useful a Snelgrove board is - also called a double 
screen.  It is a good means of discouraging swarming... especially with a 
strong overwintered colony.  (There are other good uses for the Snelgrove 
board.)  It has the advantage of being an IPM approach to varroa and offers 
the potential of raising a new queen from local stock.

I have also used a slatted bottom board - an invention of C. C. Miller a 
hundred years ago - that appears to me to help keep bees from swarming 
during the warm days even in a first year colony.

As has been mentioned here before, the current queens seem to be more 
swarm-prone than only a couple of decades ago.  Combine this with the many 
new beekeepers in cities and the problem is exacerbated.

I am wondering if encouraging the use of these two techniques would be 
useful to my students.  It makes learning to keep bees just a little more 
complicated, but might be worth the time.  Does anyone else include the use 
of these in their bee classes?  Do others agree that they are useful in 
controlling swarming?

Larry Krengel
Marengo, IL

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html

Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at:
http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm