The Snelgrove Board is designed to support Snelgrove’s ingenious swarm control method, making it ideal for beekeepers managing a small number of hives. The system works by temporarily splitting the colony and gradually bleeding young bees from the upper brood box back into the lower hive, helping to reduce swarming pressure while maintaining colony strength.
One commonly used method is as follows:
The hive is first reorganised so that the queen is placed in the bottom brood box on a single frame of open brood, alongside broodless frames. A queen excluder and supers are placed above this, followed by a second brood box containing the remaining brood frames. After four days, the Snelgrove board is inserted beneath the top brood box and the entrances are manipulated in sequence.
Entrance management schedule:
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Day 4: Open top left entrance
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Day 7: Close top left entrance; open bottom left and top right entrances
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Day 14: Close bottom left and top right entrances; open bottom right and top back entrances
Queen cells in the upper brood box should be destroyed during this process, and the two brood boxes can later be reunited once swarm control has been achieved.
The board features a central 90 × 30 mm slot covered with galvanised mesh, allowing hive pheromones and scents to pass freely between boxes while preventing direct contact. The hinged doors are operated using loop-head screws and measure 100mm in length, providing precise control over bee movement.