>Last summer while I was in Ireland I saw a negative affect of a single box covered with an excluder with supers on top. The beekeeper told me that the hive had swarmed 3 times so far and it was in June.

Allowing one swarm is careless - three is just bad beekeeping.

I would be interested to know whether these were native dark bees or not.  Our bees are what I would describe as near-native and they live very happily in a single, standard British National brood box.  Italians and Carniolans would need two or they swarm.

I have to say that last year a very large number of colonies in the UK wanted to swarm - good to see as it was an indication of their health.  We also had one of the earliest seasons that I have known - the bees went into winter very strong and with plenty of pollen, the winter was mild and the spring early.  Many beekeepers were caught out by bees swarming probably three weeks earlier than I have ever seen.

Over the years I have used every type of excluder except plastic.  It made no difference to the bees working or the crop and I am now replacing the wood and wire ones with rimless steel ones - much stronger than the traditional zinc ones that bend and allow queens upstairs.

It is my understanding (please don't ask where I read it) that much of the incoming nectar may be passed from bees below the excluder to those above it, i.e. only a small number of bees actually carry nectar through the excluder - anyone know any more on this?

Best wishes

Peter 
52°14'44.44"N, 1°50'35"W

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