> I have listened to several beekeepers about queen excluders.
> Do they hinder the flow of workers to the honey supers?

Hi James,

Excellent questions.  The answer to the first one, as with so  many 
matters in beekeeping, is "It depends".

We have covered the question many times on the list and there is no 
simple answer or I'd give it here, so I'd recommend doing an archive 
search at http://www.bee-l.org

Use the 'Advanced Options', not the basic search, which is somewhat 
useless, and check the "substring" box.  You should find many opinions 
and also good info on how to use or not use excluders.

> How many supers (shallow) do most of you plan for the season to have ready
> to put on the hive as an average?

Three standards or the equivalent volume (or height) in shallower boxes 
is the rule, 3 standards should be enough if you have the extracting 
capacity -- and the time -- to keep extracting promptly as the boxes 
fill.  Otherwise, in some areas, you might need as many as 6 standard 
boxes in addition to your brood chambers to avoid losing crop and to 
avoid plugging.

Failure to super sufficiently results in frames fattened excessively, 
lots of burr and cross comb, and swarming.  Being late in supering or 
extracting can result in brood chambers which are almost impossible to 
work.

When I hear beekeepers companion about unbearable amounts of ladder and 
burr comb, I immediately suspect that they let the bees get ahead of 
them and let the hives plug, and have not provided any foundation in the 
hive to occupy the comb-building bees.

I know a very successful beekeeper who managed with only two standard 
supers per hive in a very good producing area, but he was very efficient 
-- and young.  He later could afford more boxes and had at least four 
per hive (plus broods).

Why do I give the answer in terms of standards?  The word, "shallow" is 
very nonspecific and actually -- if used correctly -- refers to a 4-1/4 
+/-" high box, not the 6-5/8" mediums I suspect you mean or westerns.

When converting the numbers for standards to whatever shallows are being 
used, remember that shallows with wood frames have far less comb area 
than one might immediately assume due to the fact that there is 
additional wood and bee space, and it is comb area that matters.

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