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Queen Excluder

4K views 1 reply 2 participants last post by  Barry 
#1 ·
Greetings fellow beekeepers! I have seven hives and I'm looking to raising my own queens for 2001. My question is: can hardware cloth be used as an excluder? if so what gauge. If not, how can one manufacture an excluder at home? Thanks for the input.
 
#2 ·
shoo Bee -

> I'm looking to raising my own queens for 2001.

Make sure you read the great post by Jack Griffes in the "Queen Production" Forum. Nice overview.

> can hardware cloth be used as an excluder? if so what gauge.

#8 hardware cloth will exclude all honeybees. #4 hardware cloth will only exclude the occasional drone. Queen excluders measure 5/32" to 3/16" between wire and as far as I know, there is not a hardware cloth that measures this.

When one can buy a plastic excluder for $4.00 and a metal one for $6.00, I can't see how you could possibly come out ahead by making one. Tell me there is a way.

Regards,
Barry
 
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