First of all Larry, this is very important.  A new beekeeper in an urban environment _has_ to take a bit more responsibility than a new beekeeper in the country.

We had a friend (second year beekeeper) who bought some bees (not from us) last year.  She lives in a very urban area, and the hive was in a courtyard surrounded by several 10-30 unit apartment buildings.

When she went to open the colony (for the first time since installing the package on drawn comb), she found them pretty "stingy"....and then found her small dog across the yard nearly dead (expensive vet visit to boot).

We were there the next day to help...when I showed up, there were 4 or 5 young kids playing on a large hammock, just a few feet from the hive.  We closed the hive up (after dark) and moved it first to our home yard (where it stung one of our tenants), then to the woods well away from anyone.  The hive remains "stingy", but I've had no trouble working it with smoke and a veil.  Things were worse because the bees were crowded (which should have been alleviated before it became a problem), but these bees are rather hot (which should have been noticed by the beekeeper before a dog was almost killed).

For the urban beekeeper, hive traffic, potential for vandalism, potential for bad tempered bees (for genetic or environmental reasons), bees robbing urban sources of sugar and water, and swarming are all problematic...and special attention must be paid...perhaps more than the first year beekeeper is always capable of.

So much in beekeeping is learned by making mistakes...by seeing the differences between expanding a hive too early, at the "right time", and too late, for example.

I have no opinion on slatted racks, having never used them.

I do think Snelgrove boards are a bit over complicated for the beginner...but the concept of splitting a hive and harnessing the returning foragers by manipulating where the entrance is/was is an easier one to understand if we actually split boxes apart when doing the same kind of manipulations one might do with a snelgrove board.

But I agree with you, for the urban beekeeper, preventing swarming and the temperament of the bees are paramount.

deknow

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