[Petrie Dish]

Hi everyone, long time lurker, first time poster here. Last Saturday, I added a queen excluder and a medium super to my hive. I also made basically a migratory cover with an upper entrance for them to use, however I've yet to see a single bee using the top entrance, and last night I pulled the cover just to have a look, and there was only a single bee that had come up through the excluder. Is there anything I can/should do to lure them up into the super and to use the upper entrance, or do I need to be more patient and let them eventually work their way up. Thanks in advance!

 

[Peter]

Does the super contain drawn comb? If not you're better off to remove the excluder as they don't like passing thru one to undrawn foundation. Spraying the frames with sugar water with a little HBH or lemongrass oil will help as well.
I've given up using excluders as they don't appear to be very well tolerated by the Carniolan and Russian bees that I have.

 

[Petrie Dish]

no, the super doesn't have drawn comb, just foundation. Thanks for the advice!

 

[Jeff G]

Take a look on this site. Go to: Point of View; Jerry Hayes; Queen Excluder or Honey Excluder.

This is a good read and basicaly says they do not like to move through excluders. I tried adding an upper entrance between the hive bodies and honey suppers a few days ago and even with out an excluder they still like the bottom enterence but are using it a little more each day. IMO I would just remove the excluder but will listen to more experience replies.