# This vertical split solves so many problems!



## Colobee (May 15, 2014)

Double screen boards are quite handy. Around here (Denver) we run the risk of late Spring freezes & brood chill. Placing an April split over an established hive - with a DSB - capitalizes on the warmth of the lower unit & eliminates most of that risk. After a month or two an established split can be set off, for increase, or recombined with the lower unit to re-queen it (or run as a double queen unit) - usually making one monster of a producer. 

Many of my double screen boards have fallen apart from years of excessive use. Rebuilding them is time well spent.


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## Mr.Beeman (May 19, 2012)

My question is, how do you keep the queen smell from entering the now queenless super with a screened board in between? Won't this stop queen cell production?


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

Mrbeeman
I am new and so take this with a grain of salt. My understanding it that the queen smell is by actual contact of the bees to the queen and not something that is really in the air. I may be all wet though but am also sure someone will correct me if that is the case, or atleast I hope so.
gww


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## msl (Sep 6, 2016)

The sent is carried by the bees, the double screen keeps them form interacting with each outher and transferring sent
edit GWW beat me


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

Queen presence and vitality is also assessed by exchange of queen mandibulary and tarsal gland material that takes place from her travels and exchange of food. The _doubled _screen prevents this exchange more completely than will an excluder. Some queen smell will pass over. Have read something to the effect that the process is more akin to supercedure than the bees panicked emergency cell construction.


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## gww (Feb 14, 2015)

crofter is the winner. This is also why I keep hearing that these types of splits seem to keep the yard and hive a little calmer then a queenless part of the split does when set to the side. Of course this is by my reading and not by my experiance.
Cheers
gww


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## billabell (Apr 19, 2010)

If you want to make sure the queenless box thinks it is queenless put a shallow honey super on the queen right side of the double screen.
Also in the article by the Apiarist there is a link to a pdf by Wally Shaw on making simple increase. He gives lots of different types of scenerios to get different results. Personally I have just done the simple vertical splits the others would wear me out. Good read though.


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

Snelgrove boards; don't keep bees without one!

(And if keeping the same number of stacks is important to keeping marital peace, then let me suggest that you can have more than one colony above the parent one, each separated by its own Snelgrove board. Please don't ask me in front of my husband why I know this works.....)

Enj.


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## fatshark (Jun 17, 2009)

gww said:


> crofter is the winner. This is also why I keep hearing that these types of splits seem to keep the yard and hive a little calmer then a queenless part of the split does when set to the side. Of course this is by my reading and not by my experiance.
> Cheers
> gww


It's also worth noting that there are well established and successful queenright queen rearing methods which simply separate the brood box containing the queen from the grafted larvae with a queen excluder. These work well and are easy to manage. Total separation is not needed to get new queens raised. 

Most of my split boards have just a single screen though I'm experimenting this season with some built with fine mesh that will block Varroa - and taking advantage of the split to treat the queenright (and essentially broodless) half of the colony.


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## billabell (Apr 19, 2010)

fatshark,
"Most of my split boards have just a single screen though I'm experimenting this season with some built with fine mesh that will block Varroa - and taking advantage of the split to treat the queenright (and essentially broodless) half of the colony."
How fine a mesh do you think would be needed? Thanks.


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## costigaj (Oct 28, 2015)

enjambres said:


> Snelgrove boards; don't keep bees without one!.)
> 
> Enj.


Trying one this year.


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## fatshark (Jun 17, 2009)

billabell said:


> fatshark,
> "Most of my split boards have just a single screen though I'm experimenting this season with some built with fine mesh that will block Varroa - and taking advantage of the split to treat the queenright (and essentially broodless) half of the colony."
> How fine a mesh do you think would be needed? Thanks.


Not sure yet, but the stuff I have is like a fine gauze. I probably have the 'thread-density' or whatever written down somewhere. Certainly the holes are too small for Varroa to sneak through.

I think


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## crofter (May 5, 2011)

fatshark said:


> It's also worth noting that there are well established and successful queenright queen rearing methods which simply separate the brood box containing the queen from the grafted larvae with a queen excluder. These work well and are easy to manage. Total separation is not needed to get new queens raised.
> 
> Most of my split boards have just a single screen though I'm experimenting this season with some built with fine mesh that will block Varroa - and taking advantage of the split to treat the queenright (and essentially broodless) half of the colony.


_"there are well established and successful queenright queen rearing methods which simply separate the brood box containing the queen from the grafted larvae with a queen excluder. These work well and are easy to manage"_

I think that the attitude of a grafted cell is an additional influence on the certainty of queen cells being started or not. Many people have separated un tampered brood frames with only an excluder and have _not_ had cells started. Probably other influences in the colony at the time also affect the probability of cells being started.

In at least 10 instances, using the double screen board in addition to the excluder and a honey super or two, I have seen no failure to build queen cells.

You can try it with just the excluder separating queenright bees from the would be cell starters and if cells are not started you just have to bring up another frame with viable queen making eggs or larvae.


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## lharder (Mar 21, 2015)

I had good luck with them last year and liked the queens i got from them.


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## fatshark (Jun 17, 2009)

crofter said:


> _"there are well established and successful queenright queen rearing methods which simply separate the brood box containing the queen from the grafted larvae with a queen excluder. These work well and are easy to manage"_
> 
> I think that the attitude of a grafted cell is an additional influence on the certainty of queen cells being started or not. Many people have separated un tampered brood frames with only an excluder and have _not_ had cells started. Probably other influences in the colony at the time also affect the probability of cells being started.
> 
> ...


Returning to this a bit late in the day ... the "Ben Harden" system I refer to indirectly in post #10 works well with grafted larvae above the QE. The colony will also regularly start queen cells on the frame of young brood (assuming young enough larvae) adjacent to the cell bar frame - as crofter suggests, I've never seen this unless there are also grafted larvae present. 










These need to be knocked back or you might lose your grafted queens. 

The 'take' of your grafted larvae is dependent on a good flow of nectar or ample syrup feeding of the colony.

See also Wilkinson and Brown _Rearing queen honey bees in a queenright colony_, http://bit.ly/LrD4qJ (PDF of ABJ publication)


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