Dear All My Tuppenceworth on queen excuders! I have both used them and not used them, and on balance now use them all the time. If the spacing on the supers is a wide spacing and the foundation is drawn to be deep (wide metal ends on the frames) then the queen usually doesn't like laying in them, but I have had a real mess in my deep drawn super frames when the bees decided to go up top and convert these frames to a narrower spacing by gnawing and reducing the depth of the cells and putting a lot of wild comb in the gaps. Early in the season I use excluders to keep the queen in the bottom of the hive, but later in the season when there is a good honey barrier above the nest I will remove them. Also... Tip 1: Do not over clean the wax from the excluder, I find it takes a long time for the bees to get the idea that they can go through a totally clean excluder, but the wax "bridges" connecting the frames below with the frames above, mean the bees quickly get the idea that they can go up into the next chamber. I find this is more effective than using "bait combs" . (Most beekeepers I have met are obsessed with scraping everything in sight each time they open the hive, I suppose it makes them feel useful!) Tip 2: I also rub old combs and propolis on new excluders before use, it also helps the bees go through. Tip 3: Wire excluders are a lot better than the slot variety, but if using slots make sure they go perpendicular to the direction of the frames. Best wishes to all. Steve Pearce Kilspindie Scotland