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How bout that excluder!!

2K views 13 replies 12 participants last post by  tsmullins 
#1 ·
I have a queen excluder between the second and third deep on one of my hives, well, I'm not getting any activity in the third hive, the first two are full of comb and honey, first has brood and honey.
question, should I remove the excluder to get the girls to build some activity in this third deep?
I have plenty of activity, their sucking down a quart of 1to1 syrup a day, but I don't see any results, I've even made it around 7/8's to 1 to get the comb building process in my third deep.
 
#3 ·
Hi Dave, I took all my queen excluders off. The "fatbeeman" on YouTube says he thinks that the excluders wear out their wings by going in and out between the small slats. He also makes a point to say that the hives that he has that do not have on the excluders do a lot more production. So I thought it was worth a try this year to take them off during the pollen/nector flow. Then I will put them back on 3 weeks before harvest, making sure the queen is below the excluder. As for your problem with the bees not moving upward. They do not like to go through the slats if they can help it. I would take 3 or even 4 frames out of the bottom boxes and move them to the 3rd box. That way they have a reason to move up. Good luck!
 
#7 ·
The "fatbeeman" on YouTube says he thinks that the excluders wear out their wings by going in and out between the small slats. He also makes a point to say that the hives that he has that do not have on the excluders do a lot more production.
The top honey producing hive in the Guinness Book of World Records used an excluder.........
 
#11 ·
Is it a strong hive? Is there a strong flow on? Is there comb above the excluder? If the answer is no then you are probably mis-using the excluder. It's a tool, and like any tool you don't need to use it for every task - it may spend more time in the tool box than being used.

But if the answers are yes, and you want to get them working above the excluder, move the capped brood above it every few days.

What Fatbeeman says about excluders very well may be true, but I'm pretty sure he has stated that honey is only a by product of his operation. If you are not concerned with efficient honey production then excluders will have fewer uses.
 
#12 ·
I have a top and bottom entrance on all my hives, i don't have any problem getting them going through the excluder, but i have drawn comb for my honey supers.If your using foundation, leave the excluder off until they have one or two frames drawn then slip it in. Just make sure the queen is below the excluder.
 
#13 ·
If your hives are big enough the excluder will not cause a problem. Excluders keep brood out of your supers. Storing extracted boxes with brood rememants is a nightmare. Beetles will eat you up down here.

Only other thing you can do is run your bees really tight and even then that bottom box if honey will most likely have brood.
 
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