Daniel's almost foolproof split/queen introduction process.

Overview:    This is how I make my splits using double-screen boards.      This procedure is intended to be maximum-certainty, with minimal visits.   My life is too busy to guess, or to do things over.

Benefits of this process:

- Unattended release means Queen can start laying earlier.

- 1 less visit:  You don't need to wait 24 hours after dequeening to introduce

- Forgiving:   By introducing only to nurse bees, chance of rejection is minimized.

- By limiting introduction to one frame, it makes it easy to confirm presence and well being of released queen. 

Downside:

- Procedure does not scale up well.  You can only do as many concurrent splits as you have double-screen boards.    

Equiment:

- Double Screened Board with entrance, aka "Snelgrove board", aka DSB.

- Empty nucleus hive, preferably 5 frame.

- 1 Caged queen.

- 5 frames of drawn comb.

- An empty hive body.

Procedure:

Ideally, this procedure should take two visits over four days.

1) Remove frames:   Go through hive, remove frames one by one, and locate and remove:   5 frames of capped brood, 1 frame of queen, and 1 frame of uncapped brood.   Set aside the frame of uncapped brood.    Place the five frames of capped brood into your nuc.    Knock the frame with the queen, dropping her into the nuc.   .    

2) Replace frames:  Replace any frames you've removed in the search back into hive.   As you replace each one, bang it over the nuc, dropping the bees into it.    You want to get as many bees into the nuc as you can.       Some will fly back to source hive, but many will stay with mom (the queen) in the nuc.    Do not yet put the set-aside frame of uncapped brood back in hive.

3) Install Queen:  After all frames (Except your single frame of uncapped brood)have been replaced in hive, place double-screen board on top of top hive body, with entrance facing back and up.     Place your single frame of uncapped brood into this hive body.       Open any covers on the sugar plugged exits.     Affix queen cage to the comb, near the center.    Should be near some open brood, but find a place to minimize damage.

4) Replace remaining woodenware over the hive body with queen.   (Inner cover, hive top feeder, and outer cover).

5).  Wait, Check:   After 4-7 days, open hive, and verify that queen has been released.   Ideally, she will be on the single comb, calmly interacting with the other bees.     Remove the empty-hive body, and double screened board, and replace the frame into the top brood box.   Be slow and gentle replacing the frame, so you don't roll the queen.

Explanation of process:

Normally, we'd wait 24 hours after removing a queen to install another, allowing hive recognize its queenless state.    The DSB allows us to immediately install the new queen, but isolate her from foragers who may raise objection.  

Most foragers on the comb of uncapped brood will leave during the frame-relocation to the empty super, and any remainders will eventually leave via the back entrance.    Foragers won't otherwise think to come in through the back entrance.     By the time (minutes) you install the queen on the comb, it should be mostly nurse-bees.

By the time the main part of the colony recognizes queen-absence, they'll also smell queen-presence in above the double screen board.     The screen prevents physical access while at the same time allowing pheromonal familiarization.

The queen will likely be released by the nurse bees in a day or two.     The nurse bees become her new attendants.      If life delays you, and you take more than 4 days to return to check, she may even have started laying - meaning your delay didn't result in queen-delay.

Note:   This same process can be used to introduce a queen to a queenless hive.    Uncapped brood would need to be poached from another hive.   

In this picture:  Single frame of capped and uncapped brood, in an empty super, above DSB.    Cage is in middle, with sugar-plug covers exposed and opened.    Released queen in the middle, marked.

In this picture:   Double Screen Board.   Note single entrance on far end.

A beekeeping bibliophile's bee book bibliography

So many bee-books, and so little time!

What are the good books to read? Where is best to get them?

Hopefully this roadmap will help clear up some of the choice-confusion.

The first section has recommendation based on experience level,
the second section suggests a reading roadmap,
and the third section lists sources for obtaining bee books.

1. Classifying bee books by experience level: 

    These categories are separated not by difficulty level, but by the amount of unique information within them. Most beginners books tend to resemble the other beginners books, while advanced books will hold more specialized and unique information. Not everyone will agree with my categorization, but what is important is that you recognize that there are categories. Draw the lines where they make sense to you.

I classify bee books into these loose categories: Beginner, Intermediate, Advanced, and Bee-related.

a) Beginners books: Primarily Focused on equipment, terminology, and basic concepts. 

    Unfortunately, the majority of bee books published since 2007 fall into my "Beginner's" category. The CCD-era gold rush that started in 2007 lead to a proliferation of beginners books, most of which duplicate each other. I suggest reading one or two, but don't get stuck here.

Examples of Beginners books:

* Beekeeping for Dummies, by Howland Blackiston

* The Complete Idiots guide to Beekeeping, by Buzz Bissinger and Dean Stiglitz

* The Backyard Beekeeper: An Absolute Beginner's Guide to Keeping Bees, by Kim Flottum

b) Intermediate Books: These moving the focus beyond equipment and terminology, into techniques.

    These books have both breadth and depth, yet still require foundational knowledge from the reader.

Examples of Intermediate books:

* The beekeepers Handbook, by Sammataro/Avitabile

* Hive Management, by Richard Bonney

* The Practical Beekeekeeper, Vols I,II,II, by Michael Bush.

* At the hive entrance, H. Storch.

c) Advanced beekeeping books: Books from the bee masters, or dealing with specialized topics.

    These books deal with specialized topics, and require both knowledge and experience in order to derive the most benefit.

Examples of Advanced beekeeping books:

* Honey farming, by R.O.B. Manley

* 50 Years Among The bees, by Dr. C.C. Miller

* Honeybee Democracy, by T. Seeley

* The Joy of Beekeeping, Richard Taylor.

d) Bee related: Books about the culture, politics, or philosophy of beekeeping.

There's a lot of books out there that LOOK like beekeeping, but will not teach you beekeeping. Some are merely interesting, some are sensationalist, and some are magnificent. These are often mistaken for actual beekeeping books. Recognize the difference, and know that these can still be rewarding. (And you will find hidden gems of beekeeping knowledge).


As we are Calgarians, I'll limit my recommendation to one:

* Bad Beekeeping, by Ron Miksha.

2) A suggested reading roadmap:

    Don't know where to start? Here's some of my favorites, and an order to read them in. Each of these build and complement the others.

1. Beekeeping for dummies, Blackiston

2. Backyard beekeeping, Flottum

3. The beekeeper's handbook, Sammotoro.

4. At the hive entrance, Storch.

5. The practical beekeeper Volume III, Bush.

6. 50 Years among the bees, Miller.

7. The Joy of beekeeping, Taylor.

3) Where to obtain Bee books.

    Whether you are looking for a mass published book, something a little less common, or even a rare and out of print book, you'll been able to find what you need from one of the following four sources. There is overlap between these sources, but each has a unique enough catalog to warrant mention. There are many other possible sources, but I'd be surprised if they have any titles not available from one of the four below.

These are ordered from most-mainstream to most-niche.


Amazon.com: http://www.amazon.com

We all know Amazon. Competitive prices and helpful reviews. A broad selection of current books, but a limited selection of older and niche beekeeping books.

Amazon also sells books by Nabu Press, who are noteworthy for scanning and reprinting out of print books that would otherwise be unavailable. It was thanks to Nabu Press that I was able to obtain a reprinted copy of the USDA's 1912 manual on comb honey production.

Search Amazon for the keywords "Nabu Beekeeping" for some very novel titles that you won't come across anywhere else.


Northern Bee Books: http://www.northernbeebooks.co.uk/

Northern bee books is the only source I know of that specializes in bee books. They also resurrect and reprint out-of-print titles. They've helpfully broken their catalog down into categories, the most helpful of which is the "Bee Masters" category. You simply can't go wrong reading any of these books. I've even ordered a few books off of their site that I'd never heard of or seen elsewhere, and been very pleased by the original material. They are like your own beekeeping-book concierge.


International Bee Research Association: http://www.ibrabee.org.uk/index.php/our-shop

The IBRA has an online shop with an incredible selection of high quality books. A lot of their catalogue is unique to them, and not available elsewhere.
Many books on tropical beekeeping, or beekeeping in deveoping countries. They also have some *AMAZING* Children's bee-books.


Ebay: http://www.ebay.ca

On the rare occasion that you're seeking a book that's out of print, and unavailable from other sources, you may be lucky enough to find it on ebay. Lots of older books are listed on Ebay, but finding a particular book at a reasonable price requires patience. After having exhausted all other sources, I was able to find a 1948 copy of E.B. Wedmore's "Manual of beekeeping". (It has since become available as a reprint, thanks to Northern Beek Books).


Google books: https://books.google.ca/

If for whatever reason, you can't find the book you want anywhere else, try Google Books. Google books has many out-of-print titles that are unavailable elsewhere, thanks to Google's efforts to scan and digitize....Everything. If you find yourself needing books from this category, it's probably time to put down the bee books and go do something else for a change.



/Created 2015, updated April 2017, Updated and published online May 2024.