[jon roberts]

This my second year and I decided to try the queen excluder to keep the wax nice and pretty in the supers.But I think it is hindering the honey production. Has anyone else noticed this?
What is the general opinion on excluders. Most people do or most don't?

Jon

 

[iddee]

When it's 50-50, which is most?

I think most of the liquid honey people probably don't use them, and most of the comb honey people do, but that is strictly a wild guess.

 

[Sundance]

Switch to a top entrance and the foragers will not have to travel thru the excluder. Plus they will be more efficient as they will not have to negotiate the brood nest on every nectar flight.

Make sure to leave at least a 1/8" or 1/4" hole in a brood box for drones to fly.

Top entrances have no downside I can think of.

Several large commercial beeks I know use excluders. I will as well. No time to cull through supers for brood.

 

[Hillside]

I don't use them. I think it depends on the kind of schedule that you harvest on.

If you harvest early, and there are only one or two supers on, there is some likelyhood that the queen could have gotten into the bottom super and laid some eggs. If you pull it off right away, you'll find brood there.

If you harvest late and there are three or maybe more supers on the hive, the queen tends to get blocked by the lowest super that is filled and capped fairly early on. If she did lay eggs there, the brood has matured by the time you harvest and the bees have filled those few cells with honey. The very top super, that still has some open, cells is too far from the broodnest for the queen to be wandering around up there.

 

[roger eagles]

Yew can put on an excluder,but have a wood frame around it,then put a entrance on the top of the excluder in the wood.I avertaged 350 lbs a hive last year and have ta have 6 supers to keep up.Never hindered honey flow at all.With hives this strong without them,I have found brood in the top supers because of honey bound.

 

[tecumseh]

jon roberts sezs:
But I think it is hindering the honey production. Has anyone else noticed this?

tecumseh replies:
the old commercial guy I use to work for called a queen excluder a honey excluder.

 

[Wee3Bees Apiary]

I heard the discussions about not using a queen excluder and I tried going "commando" this year (in other words, without an excluder). The weather here has mostly been in drought until the last 2 weeks and I have been pleased that I didn't use the excluders; plus I used grumpy (LOL) George Imirie's idea and added Imirie shims this year also and the girls love to use them.

It has meant the difference in not having a surplus and looks like I will get 275 to 300 lbs. per hive this year.

I am convinced about queen excluders being removed. Also, I manipulated my supers to putting a honey bound super above the brood chamber and old queenie tends to stay below and lay brood (she WILL check out the rest of the hive though). You do have to be extra carefull without excluders because I never know where She will be . . . I have found her in a handful of bees in an empty undrawn super as well as hanging upside down on the inner cover with the other cool bees!

[ June 08, 2006, 11:47 PM: Message edited by: Wee3Bees Apiary ]

 

[Michael Bush]

>But I think it is hindering the honey production. Has anyone else noticed this?

Always. I quit using them over 30 years ago.

>What is the general opinion on excluders.

In my opinion, it restrict honey production and encourage swarming.

> Most people do or most don't?

Hard to say for sure. It would be an interesting poll.

Seems like most of the oldtimers I know don't. Seems like most of the newbees do, just because the books say so. The rest, in between seem pretty split on it.

 

[Dave W]

jon roberts . . .

The Top Entrance described above by Sundance
is a good alternative.

Some of us use a foundation called 7/11 (sold by Kelley Co). Queen dosent like to lay in it because of cell size.

In an "Unlimited Brood Nest" arangement, the honey in food chamber (as will any overhead honey) keeps queen down below honey supers.

An excluder is useful when you have brood in honey supers, and the excluder is then installed about 3 wks prior to super removal.

[ June 09, 2006, 10:10 AM: Message edited by: Dave W ]

 

[Dwight]

I don't use them. If you keep your hives strong and wait until the flow is on to add honey supers you won't have any problem with brood in the supers. If you do get a little brood in the supers the strainer will take it out of the honey along with all the other debris.
I haven't ever tried comb honey but what I have read states that you don't use excluders when producing comb honey either. If you crowd them and wait for the flow to super they will fill the comb as fast as they draw it and the queen will not have time to lay in the cells.