Queen Excluders

[SteveSC]

Just trying to get a feel for who's using the excluders.  I use them but thinking about stopping. 

My only concern would be getting brood in the supers that I'd rather it not be in.  I've heard suggestions of turning the excluder 90 degs to allow the foragers access and still discourage the queen from moving up but how often does a queen move up through the supers....? I would think not very often.

What do you do when start to harvest the honey and there's all this brood on the frames...?

[Kathyp]

you need a yes-sometimes.  :-)

i would think it would depend on the hive for me.  if they worked through it, i'd leave it.  if i found i had a hive that wouldn't work through it, i'd remove it.  mine was fine last year, but i don't think i'll get a chance to experiment this year....no honey for me  :-(

[annette]

kathyp

How many hives do you have???? Why no honey for you???

Annette

[SteveSC]

you need a yes-sometimes

Just for you Kathyp.....   ;)

[Robo]

I use them,  but mainly as queen includers with swarms.

[Kathyp]

gee...thanks  :-)

no honey because they have not built up enough and they are not putting any stores in.  anything they put away is going to have to be for them.  i am guessing it's the weather that has slowed them down.  queens seem to be doing an ok job.

[annette]

I had posted previously about these queen excluders and received many different replies.

I am giving them a chance right now and they seem to be working out for me.

Have a great day
Annette

[Moonshae]

When I had my two hives as a teenager (~20 years ago), I didn't know any other way than to use them, and I had no problems. Next year, when I'm ready to have some honey to harvest, I at least plan to start with them. If the bees won't go past, well, then I'll deal with that as it happens...I'd rather cut out a little brood at harvest than have a swarm earlier.

[TwT]

I dont know how to vote, I only use a queen excluder for a new swarm I caught or for mice during the winter (by putting it under the bottom hive body) ...

[doak]

I am using 3 as of now. Some time the queen will keep coming up,up,up.  I will put one on then. If the queen stays down I don't use one. So far I can't tell any difference. But most time I have an entrance hole in my supers somewhere above the brood. I don't mind putting holes in, it also helps vent. I buy some 2nd's and reject boxes just to get the knot holes :roll: then I don't have to cut them. I found out if the bees don't want a hole up there they will stop it up.

I told about my "Last week" in march swarm.
Well I have got to add another box tomorrow, That makes 6 supers off that one, If they fill it.
So far, 3 ten frame medium, one 8 frame deep and the 8 frame medium. The mother hive this swarm came from  has done 4 and I added the fith to it today.
Have honey running out my ears. ;)
doak

[Brian D. Bray]

I have 2 queen excluders, I have yet to use them.  When I've used them in the past it was mainly as includers to keep a swarm from absconding.  I quit using excluders as excluders back in the 60's--just threw too many swarms, kept the brood nest too small, and frustrated bees and beekeeper alike.

[doak]

The one I have on is above the third deep.
They may have made more brood space if I had let it go but I thought 3 was enough.
The other has a deep and 2 mediuns, then the x-cluder.
Don't know what the other has. 4 mediums I think.
They all have upper entrance holes.
Two are swarms I got this spring.
doak

[BBHJ]

This is my first year keeping bees, and I'm still experimenting with the excluders. With my best hive (I have 3 & my Bro. has 3, all have only one deep brood box) I didnt use one when I put my first super on because we didnt have any excluders then. They filled it up in 1 1/2 weeks about a month ago. I then added super # 2 and didnt have an excluder to put on untill about 4 days later when the plastic ones from Better Bee arrived. I put it on then, but turned it sideways. IMO it slowed the bees down ALOT. It took like 2 1/2 weeks before it was time to add super # 3. The other hives are just filling their 1st supers after about 5-6 weeks and IMO the excluders have some to do with that. Not all but some. They were not put on turned sideways either like the 1 hive. Anyway all excluders are off except for the one on my best hive and its coming off Wed. We extracted 1 super from that hive and I put another super on it last Wed. (it should be almost full) so that would be a total of 4 supers that my best hive has made. I think going the whole time with out the excluder the total could've been 6 full supers, maybe even more. I also dont think she would've moved up nor will she now. Time will tell though.

[Michael Bush]

Every beekeeper should have one.  :)  That's probably all you need.  Three maybe if you want to find a hard to fined queen in three boxes of brood.  They are handy for queen rearing.  I have one on my "queen mother" hive so I only have to look in one box to find her, since I have to find her every week.  I have one on my queenright cell finishers so the queen can't destroy the cells.  But other than that, I don't use them.

[SteveSC]

Micheal.... I haven't been keeping bees long enough to know whether to use them or not.  I do use them now because that's what I started with but I'd like to do away with them.  Common sense tells me they would hinder the bees storing honey and just slow the entire hive down.. I might not get a drop more of honey without them in place but I'd like to think the hive would operate more efficiently with queen excluders not in place...

Do you have a lot of brood in your honey supers - that's what I want to avoid if I can..?

If you do have brood there do you just cut it out when you harvest the honey..how do you deal with it.?

Thanks.....

[Michael Bush]

>Do you have a lot of brood in your honey supers

Well, it's hard to say waht a "super" is when you have no excluder and all the boxes are the same size... but no.

> - that's what I want to avoid if I can..?

Why?  If the queen needs a place to lay, would you rather she swarmed?

>If you do have brood there do you just cut it out when you harvest the honey..how do you deal with it.?

I leave the brood and take the honey.  But the only time you see little patches of brood is when you don't allow any drone comb in the brood nest and the queen is desperate to lay some so when she finds some drone sized comb in the super, she lays in it.

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesulbn.htm
http://www.bushfarms.com/beeslazy.htm#uniformframesize

[Hi-Tech]

I use an excluder but then I use a top cover with a top entrance as well as the bottom entrance. It works well that way.