Queen Excluder

[sean]

Have had on a queen excluder for a couple weeks now and have just seen that there are drones stuck in the excluder and they are actually clogging it up in some places. Did i do/not do something when i placed them in the hives?

[Shizzell]

What are you using the excluder for, keeping the queen from your supers? Or for extra ventilation?
If your using the excluder from keeping the queen from your supers I have a couple of recommendations.
- I don't use a queen excluder for my supers, they tend to make my hive swarm more often.
- Did you construct the excluder yourself? The spaces must be perfectly spaced to the correct size.

Jake

[sean]

it was to keep the queen from the supers. i had just bought and used  2 as an experiment. They were store bought so i assume that they were done to specifications. i find that i did get supers without any brood(but got the same result in some ofthe boxes without the excluder) and hundreds of dead drones on and stuck in the excluder

[Shizzell]

Yeah I wouldn't even use the exluders, I'ved had 3 hives now that have swarmed 2 weeks after I added a excluder.

Jake

[sean]

Well as i said i just tried it as an experiment to see if it would make my life easier come extraction time. Dont see where it will be much easier. But the dead drones made me curious.

[Jerrymac]

Perhaps it split the hive enough you got a laying worker in the supers  :? I really don't know.

[Mici]

maybe a "baby" drone can go up, but when he eats enough he can't go down?
is there any chance you closed some brood with the queen excludor, because it happens a lot around here where we have only 2 compartments with a queen excludor, so when you move a frame up in the super, if there are drones they get stuck like you described.

a top entrance would help!

[sean]

Well yes there was some brood above the excluder but it seem to be that much when compared to the amount of heads i shook off. But having lost so many drones how the hive respond?

[kgbenson]

They will make more.

I don't have a problem with excluders and I use them.  Some folks find them to be problematic, I haven't recognized them to be such, but you know what they say, ask 10 beekeepers, get 11 opinions.  I also have a notch in the inner cover such that when the outer cover is pushed forward, there is an entrance/exit.  Any drones that find themselves above the excluder can leave that way.

Keith

[sean]

Don't like additional openings. In fact i think they need to start integrating the bottomboard and brood chamber as one unit. Went right doen to the bottom of two of my colonies and had to kill about 8 or 9 hive beetles that seem to live just in the crack between the box and the bb. Of course the bees got after them helped us as well. But i digress.
I dont hink i'll be using the excluders anymore. so, anyone want them can come and get them.

[Mklangelo]

What are you using the excluder for, keeping the queen from your supers? Or for extra ventilation?
If your using the excluder from keeping the queen from your supers I have a couple of recommendations.
- I don't use a queen excluder for my supers, they tend to make my hive swarm more often.
- Did you construct the excluder yourself? The spaces must be perfectly spaced to the correct size.

Jake

So what abut brood in your honey?  Isn't that something to avoid?

[Shizzell]

Mklangelo, Good question.

If you add a super (That doesn't have comb drawn) right before the big flow the queen will hardly lay 3 deep hives high. (I have 2 deep brood boxes, and then I use one 1 deep for a super) Plus, the queen slows WAY down during the flow due to the fact that the bees want to get ready for winter. Also, I keep my hives relatively populated. I keep them plump with bees, but this also can be tricky business. I have to watch carefully for swarms. But keeping the hives plump keeps the queen from laying like a madman. (Or madwomen?)

Anyways, hope it answered your question.

Jake

[Mklangelo]

Mklangelo, Good question.

If you add a super (That doesn't have comb drawn) right before the big flow the queen will hardly lay 3 deep hives high. (I have 2 deep brood boxes, and then I use one 1 deep for a super) Plus, the queen slows WAY down during the flow due to the fact that the bees want to get ready for winter. Also, I keep my hives relatively populated. I keep them plump with bees, but this also can be tricky business. I have to watch carefully for swarms. But keeping the hives plump keeps the queen from laying like a madman. (Or madwomen?)

Anyways, hope it answered your question.

Jake

Well, I have a total of  6 hive bodies and 6 honey supers with needed frames and foundation.  Of course 3 of the bodies are in use now.  As it stands at the moment, only one of the colonies will surrender me any honey, and that could certainly change. Since these are new colonies, I won't have to worry about honey for me until fall and I have time to construct two more hive bodies and two more supers with frames.  If I don't need em' I have a jump on next years expansion.

[Shizzell]

Just make sure you have your veil on when it comes to taking their honey.

 ;)

Jake

[Mklangelo]

Just make sure you have your veil on when it comes to taking their honey.

 ;)

Jake

I keep it with my American Express card... I never leave home without it.  I have taken to not wearing gloves though.  But it would be wise to when robbing em'.

[sean]

I find that when you don't wear gloves you tend to be more careful. It amazes me to see the amount of stings you can take off a pair a gloves yet when i dont wear them i hardly stung.

[Understudy]

I find when running a sawzall, that gloves are very necessary.
However for the rest I really don't wear them.


Sincerely,
Brendhan

[Brian D. Bray]

I let my queens have as much brood space as they want, I let them build up as big as they can.  More bees  make more honey.  In the fall I just move the frames containing brood down and frames containing honey up in order to harvest full supers.  Using 1 size of box (medium) makes this possible regardless of how may boxes are on a hive.  I leave the hive 3-4 medium 8 frame boxes for the winter. 
I don't care if the queen wants to lay eggs in rear brood in 6 boxes just so long as I have the ability to consolidate down come fall.

[Michael Bush]

>Did i do/not do something when i placed them in the hives?

Yes. I'm guessing you have no top entrance and you had drones in the supers when you added it.  The drones got trapped in the supers and died trying to get out.