Unfortunately, Garrett, you are wrong.  But you have lots of company as this
comes up every two years or so.

A queen excluder on top of a brood nest is appropriate (to some) as it
prevents the queen from moving up into honey-gathering supers and laying
eggs therein.  When this happens in cut-comb supers it is nothing short of
tragic.

A queen excluder on the bottom of the brood nest will, it is true, prevent
swarming.  However, it will also cause all the drones to be kept in the
hive.  This seems to demoralize the hive to the extent that they stop
collecting nectar.  Then drones start to die, and decompose, and stink...

Good beekeepers work with the bees' natural tendencies, sometimes turning
them to the beekeepers advantage.  There are lots and lots of other ways to
prevent or minimize swarming and the most successful of these involve
working with the bees instead of against them.

Lloyd
Lloyd Spear, Owner Ross Rounds, Inc.
Manufacturers of Ross Rounds Comb
Honey Equipment, Sundance Pollen Traps
and Custom Printer of Sundance Labels.

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