Charles Hatton wrote:
 
> To that 11 year old young man, you said that he should use a queen excluder.  I was told by the store where I spent $600 for my two unassembled hives, that a queen excluder will stop the other bees from doing much up there.  The lady at the shop said it really is a bee excluder.  I don't know what to do.  Please advise.
>
 
There is a lot said that is just plain rubbish, and this surely falls in
that category.  I have raised bees with and without queen excluders, and
can assure you that the bees certainly have no problem at all getting
through the excluder.  I use them because I cannot tolerate brood in the
honey supers.  There is often no brood there because the queen doesn't
like to past honey filled comb, but it does happen often enough to be a
problem to me.  Therefore I always use the excluder and harvest up to
175 lbs. honey per colony.
 
Ted Fischer
Dexter, Michigan USA