[log in to unmask] (Edward Sterling) says:
>.......my "beeyard" instructor grumped at queen excluders and said "they
oughta be called 'honey excluders'...(grumble grumble)."
 
Allen Dick has a given a good rundown of principles that apply here, and I'll
give a hearty "amen" to his comments, only adding:
 
In areas with spotty, sporadic or extended weak flows (like SC coastal areas
after the spring flow), if a hive is in three boxes, with a good (young)
queen, and no excluder, you'll often arrive at fall with a powerful colony,
three boxes of brood, and not a drop of honey. It can get real expensive to
give hives ALL their winter feed, so I have to have thel bees in a single
deep under an excluder by July 1, if not sooner.
 
[log in to unmask]     Dave Green