[Vance G]

The new plastic or metal excluders don't seem to damage the bees in my opinion. If managed properly they are not a barrier and do not cut production that I can decern. They do stop selected queens from laying five or six boxes high in the stack and eliminates that mess. If you are putting on an extra box while the bees are drawing the first one, is counter productive in many ways. Bees work wax best at high temperature which they have to create in the buildup stage. Do not put on that extra room until the bees are actively working on eight of ten frames of foundation. Then move a brood frame up/sans bees above the excluder to get the bees working past the barrier. Good luck.