Re: Queen Excluders
>
>>What's your opinion?  Last year on the advice of a friend with many years
>>of experience, I supered over my double-deep brood nests without excluders.
>>....
 
We keep bees in Northern Michigan in the US, in a region with a strong main
flow. We generally equalize our hives through some minor flows in June, and
super with about two medium(6 5/8) supers per hive. Some have a nice cap of
honey over the broodnest(natural excluder), and some of the hives have brood
visible between the top bars. Due to our numbers of hives to work, they all
get at least two supers as the main flow begins.
 
When we come back to visit the hives on the next visit, we check the supers
to be sure they are filling up with honey. If there is some brood, we will
let them force the queen down, before we give them any more supers.
 
We run all of our supers with 8 combs and believe it helps to prevent the
queens from laying them up.
 
If we were to run singles for honey, I would use queen excluders and keep
the brood nest from getting too congested with honey. This could be more
work  intensive, and leaves the beekeeper with a potential problem of
preparing to winter.
 
Kirk