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Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology

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Subject:
From:
Allen Dick <[log in to unmask]>
Reply To:
Informed Discussion of Beekeeping Issues and Bee Biology <[log in to unmask]>
Date:
Wed, 9 Aug 2000 23:40:02 -0600
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> but the bees seem to refuse to go through the queen
> excluder to the honey super.

The reasons that bees fail to go through an excluder can be many.  There are
raft of usual ones that are offered whenever the question comes up, and they are
all valid.  Understanding them can resolve the problem.  Using excluders is a
skill.

Having said that, though it seems to me that one very obvious and important
factor has historically escaped examination until it was revealed several times
here on BEE-L.  The amazing thing is that it has passed several times without
any comment or apparent interest from the bee supply or the scientific
community -- unless there are secret experiments underway right now.

Everyone without exception seems to believe that bees vary considerably in size
between races, strains and locations. The most obvious explanation for at least
some cases of bees not going willingly through excluders is that excluders -- at
least all the ones I have been able to find and measure -- use exactly the same
gap for bees to crawl through!  How can this be?

I do not see excluders advertised as "Large Gap: For large bees raised in 5.7 mm
comb" or "Small Gap: For Africanised bees or smaller honey bees".

Can anyone explain why?

allen
--
A Beekeeper's Diary: http://www.internode.net/HoneyBee/Diary/
Package installation, performance experiments, winter loss, fondant feeding,
Pierco vs. Permadent vs. dark comb, unwrapping, splitting tricks, queen cells,
AFB, varroa, protein patties, daily mumblings and more... Thousands served...

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