Like Lloyd, I don't see much need for queen excluders when putting on Ross
Rounds.
I've only rarely seen brood in any section-comb honey, but I've only used
the plastic, never tried basswood sections.

A lot of the complaints about excluders have more to do with the "Perils of
the Double Deep" than with the excluders themselves.
(Kim, you should reprint this classic article, as it pre-dates most of the
current crop of beekeepers)

Running all mediums, (don't groan - "Friends don't let friends lift deeps!")
one can tune the available space appropriately, so that robust colonies have
3 mediums of brood chamber (equivalent to 2 deeps), while less populous
colonies are reduced down to 2 brood chambers when supers are added.  Yes, I
could requeen, but to misquote Donald Rumsfeld "you go into the bloom with
the queens you have, not the queens you wish you had".

Earlier evaluation and triage of queens is needed, but I can't requeen in
fall and then judge that queen's performance in fall, as I WANT queens that
do not continue laying well into fall.

It was such a cold winter in NYC this year, I was reduced to using an
infrared spot thermometer to estimate cluster sizes from heat radiated
through the brood chambers, and forced to pop open hives and feed pollen
patties and fondant in Feb to jump-start colonies.  Not very impressive
"simulative feeding", but the blooms are also delayed this year, so we still
have time for some build-up.

Easter Sunday was the first decent warm day in weeks, and we had only one
other brief warm period a few weeks ago.  Before that, it was arctic. 

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