On Mon, 3 Apr 1995 [log in to unmask] wrote:
 
> Ed,  I too have heard the same expression since I started keeping bees.
> My thought is; who are they (honey excluders) excluding the honey from?
> Since I am a hobbiest and do not need to get all the honey so it really
> doesn't matter to me.  If we follow bee biology they put most of their
> stores above the cluster to be used through the winter. If we take it all
> they will have to be fed to survive. When I use the excluder I know that
> some of the honey will remain in the lower hive bodies which is a nice
> place to have it going into the winter.
 
This is a rather technical matter, and requires understanding of bees,
timing, and observation.
 
Here is some of what is required to understand the problem:
 
Bees prefer to store honey in dark comb and raise brood in new comb.
 
Bees prefer (in the high latitudes at least) to have the brood running up
and down the hive, not so much across the hive.
 
Young queens are more adventurous about where they will lay. Old queens
are less likely to cross wood or honey to find a spot to lay or have as
large a brood area at some times of the year.
 
After the spring, brood nest expansion will end (usually) and brood
rearing will tend to take place mostly in combs which have had brood
previously during that season assuming the brood nest is undisturbed.
This is especially true with older queens and some breeds.
 
In a strong flow bees will move honey storage into any cavity in the hive
when they run out of space and will even build comb under the hive floor
on occasion or fill jars placed over holes in a cover (it may have to be
covered to be dark).
 
Bees tend not to want to walk over much capped honey to begin storing
honey in a new space -- especially in a slow flow.
 
Once bees start to work a strong flow, they will tend to keep going until
they run entirely out of space.
 
Once bees go into a new space and begin work there excluders are no barrier.
 
If they are permitted enough space under an excluder to store significant
honey and raise lots of brood, they may refuse to go through it; hence
excluders are really tricky in three standard brood nest colonies.
 
Small populations do not tend to expand through excluders unless crowded
by them.
 
Swarming is easily stimulated early in the season and almost never
happens as the season tapers off.
 
Bees not properly supered early enough (before the need is pressing) will
swarm.
 
Using the above tendencies, a wise beekeeper can use excluders to get the
right performance from his/her bees.
 
Perhaps someone will add to this list.
 
The goal is not only to get a good crop, but also to get it with a
minimum of fuss and damage to the bees.
 
Since Alberta has gone to wintering from package production, and
beekeepers have had to learn something about bees, commercial beekeepers
have slowly gone over to excluders.  Very few that I know are not using
them to some extent.
 
In areas with predictable heavy flows, the excluder is less essential. In
other areas, it makes preparation for wintering (in two brood chambers)
much simpler.
 
W. Allen Dick, Beekeeper                        VE6CFK
Rural Route One   Swalwell   Alberta   Canada  T0M 1Y0
Email:   [log in to unmask]    or   [log in to unmask]
Virtual Art Gallery: http://www.cuug.ab.ca:8001/~dicka
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