Hello All,

I am fairly new to beekeeping and fairly new to this list. To that extent I'm
guessing that some of the questions I will pose have been discussed numerous
times on this list before but I will ask anyway (I did search the archives
though).

My questions have to do with investigating alternative methods for keeping the
queen down in the brood boxes without using excluders. I am currently using
metal excluders and in my somewhat careful observation it appears that the
workers have to fairly squeeze themselves through to pass the excluder. In
fact it appears that some workers might even be unable to get through because
of individual variation in size. Given this observation it is immediately
apparent why excluders deter the free movement of workers through the hive.

1. So, are there other possible ways to exclude the queen yet not impede the
workers? Yes, a barrier of several full frames of honey does seem to work
(though I have known a queen to cross even that barrier) for the most part but
keeping a full super of honey on at all times is sometimes not desirable or
even possible.

2. Has someone ever tried using a slatted rack as a queen excluder? That is,
might a slatted rack provide some unknown space to the queen that she might
not cross? If not a slatted rack, might there be some other device like that
that might work?

3. How about providing a second entrance, at the level of the first super of
say 3/4 inch in height. That is, a regular wide entrance to the hive which
also provides then provides a space of 3/4 inch between the top deep and the
first super which will be bright and airy. Might this help to both relieve
congestion and deter the queen from going up past that open space?

4. I saw that some folks recommend placing the queen excluder cross-wise so
that the front and back of the hive are open to free movement but the queen
will stay in the middle. Is this known to work?

Any thoughts or insights?

Stephen Augustine
Bees By The Bay