Queen excluder

[MSbeekeeper]

So I have read that people put a queen excluder on the bottom to keep the queen from flying out. Is this a concern and a practice that I should take part it? I see the reason behind it but was wondering if it really is a big deal. I just dont see a queen in a healthy hive just up and leaving but I could be way way wrong.

[RayMarler]

It's to prevent the queen from leaving if the hive swarms. If the hive swarms and the queen is not with it, they will come back to the hive. If it never swarms, she'll never leave (after being a mated laying queen). It makes more sense, to me, to manage your hives for swarm prevention instead of puting a queen excluder on the bottom.

[rw3212]

Personally I only use an excluder this way when I put them into a hive new to them, then only until they get settled. I have had queens leave, especially when requeening and this is only a way to prevent this until everything settles down.

[alpha6]

Just remember your drones won't be able to get out either so if your working with virgin queens...they are gonna stay that way.

We re-queen hundreds of hives and don't use. I can see better ways of trying to manage swarms, but if it works for you....

[berkshire bee]

A queen excluder on the bottom box will keep the queen from leaving but it does nothing to address the issues of why the hive wants to swarm. As Ray mentioned, hive management is the key.

[brooksbeefarm]

When a colony is thinking about swarming they will slim the queen down so she can fly, i have found queens that are not much bigger than a worker bee ready to leave with the swarm, i'm not so sure if an excluder would keep her from leaving or a virgin queen either. :scratch: Jack

[cream43]

I heard this same suggestion last year from a California Beek so I presented it to Dr. Hood from Clemson University. He said, as most of the other replys alluded to, that the hive will continue to raise small queens that can get out if the conditions that prompted the swarming preparations don't improve. I'm a totally new Beek and my hive swarmed last year so I thought this might be the answer but I now think it is much better to provide more room more quickly and not over feed. Also get a swarm trap and have extra brood boxes ready if they do end up hanging in the tree!:eek:

[Michael Bush]

The queen includer (queen excluder on the bottom) is usually only done temporarily when installing a package or doing a shaken swarm or a shake down to keep them from absconding. It is left on only until there is open brood or at the latest a little capped brood. In other words, not more than three weeks and probably not less than one week. Drones cannot escape as pointed out above.

[Jerry Kinder]

I do see a potential positive side to this. It could be a way to train the worker bees to pass through the queen excluder. That way when you move the excluder up to the top of the hive between the brood box and the super the bees have no issues with them going through it (see post on honey excluder).

[Michael Bush]

>It could be a way to train the worker bees to pass through the queen excluder.

That seems reasonable. But why would you want to. :)