# Queen Excluder usage???



## moday (Mar 28, 2008)

Does everyone use queen excluders? 

I have not used them the past couple years, and I have never had trouble with the queen going up to my honey supers.

I use two deeps at the bottom. One intended for brood and one for winter honey.

I then try to put shallows above, and seem to have good luck keeping the queen out.

If I was to use an excluder, where would you recommend it go?

Also, do the excluders ever slow down honey production? It seems like the year I used it, the bees wanted to stay low. Maybe it was just a weak hive???

Please advise. Thanks


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## indypartridge (Oct 26, 2004)

moday said:


> Does everyone use queen excluders?


Queen excluders are often the subject of lively debates between beekeepers. Some swear by them, others swear at them.



> If I was to use an excluder, where would you recommend it go?


Typically between the brood boxes and honey supers.



> Also, do the excluders ever slow down honey production?


Those beeks that swear at them refer to them as "honey excluders". Those beeks that use them say if you use them "correctly" they won't impact production.


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## Iddee (Sep 25, 2005)

>>>If I was to use an excluder, where would you recommend it go?<<<

Under your tire when your truck gets stuck in the mud. 
Under and over your stored supers, to keep the mice out.

Anywhere other than on the hive.


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## Ernie (Jul 22, 2007)

I use excluders and I don't seem to be having any problems with them. The workers go right through them with ease. 

I put them between the brood boxes and the supers. 

I'd like to hear opinions on why you ought not to use excluders. I've only been beekeeping for a little over a year now and used the excluders because that's what I'd read to use. If there's a better way then I'm all ears.


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## Iddee (Sep 25, 2005)

There are a thousand reasons for keeping bees. That means two thousand ways to do it. Excluders can be good, bad, or indifferent, depending on your goals. That's why there are so many different opinions.


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## sugarbush (Jul 15, 2007)

Iddee said:


> >>>If I was to use an excluder, where would you recommend it go?<<<
> 
> Under your tire when your truck gets stuck in the mud.
> Under and over your stored supers, to keep the mice out.
> ...


 Agreed


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## no1cowboy (May 2, 2004)

I dont like brood in my honey! and so I always use excluders and have no problems with honey production.


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## sugarbush (Jul 15, 2007)

no1cowboy said:


> I dont like brood in my honey! and so I always use excluders and have no problems.


Me neither; So I never use excluders and don't have a problem


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## alleyyooper (Apr 22, 2005)

Never have used the things and never have a problem. When I got started a club member living very near me showed me and experimint he was doing. Four colonies of bees, two had the excluders and two didn't. He got one less shallow of honey from the queen excluder colonies than he did those with out and they all sat side bny side in the bee yard.

Do your own experimint and you probably will have them to store in some dark place or use to get you truck unstuck.

 Al


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## OkieDavid (Jan 15, 2007)

I use excluders when hiving a swarm. I place them between the box and hive stand to keep the queen in the box (I know...some have said a swarm queen may still fit through them but I've never had it happen). Other than that, they hang on my wall in the garage. I also don't like brood in my supers so when I pull honey, any frames that have brood in them go back into the box I placed when I pulled the super. Small timer here (six hives) so I pull honey "by the frame" rather than "by the box".


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## turtlehead (Jul 22, 2005)

Someone in my beekeeping club said if they have a hive where the bees don't like to go past the queen excluder, they'll turn the excluder sideways so that it sticks out a little bit on two sides but leaves a large-ish gap on the other two sides. They said the queen VERY rarely (if ever) goes up the walls of the hive so she still won't go past the excluder, but the workers happily go through the large spaces on the sides and fill the supers as if the excluder was not being used.

I haven't ever used an excluder, but this is only my second year and I've never harvested honey either. So I have no personal experience, only anecdotes from my club.


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## reginabee (May 15, 2008)

Iddee said:


> >>>If I was to use an excluder, where would you recommend it go?<<<
> 
> Under your tire when your truck gets stuck in the mud.
> Under and over your stored supers, to keep the mice out.
> ...


Also, great for putting your homemade pasta to dry.


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## foxtrapper (Dec 23, 2003)

Queen excluder or Honey excluder
Worth reading. Not conclusive, but the differences were substantial.
http://www.beesource.com/pov/hayes/abjaug85.htm

I use a queen excluder. Maybe it's my bees, but without one I tend to get the queen right up there in the supers, laying eggs.


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## Elizabeth (Jun 4, 2002)

I usually use excluders- never had a problem with them. However, one thing that I do might help- I always shift my honey supers back abut 1/4" from the box below them. This helps a lot with ventilation, and also provides a series of upper entrances which the bees can use if they wish.

Sometimes, if I am using a super with new foundation, I will leave the excluder off until the bees have started drawing comb- the queen won't bother moving up onto frames of foundation. Later, when the bees have some comb started I will add the excluder- I have never noticed that they stop going up.

If you don't want to use excluders make sure you leave plenty of open brood space down below so the queen won't be forced to move up looking for empty cells in which t lay eggs.


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## beehoppers (Jun 3, 2008)

Beekeeping ways is sort of like religion. Pick one and go with it. 
I tried the sideways excluder in 2 hives last year. Both queens (Russian) went around them and up...


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