At 11:03 AM 6/10/98 -0400, you wrote:
 
>I'm a beekeeper and I was told that the queen usally travels upward
>in the center between the hives and supers, it was also suggested to me that
>I use queen excluders although they may reduce my honey output in the
>supers.  If this is the case, what if I cut a 2in by 2in hole on each of the
>corners of the excluder.  Would this help the workers to travel more freely
>or would this just destroy a good excluder?
 
Hi Drew and Bee Friends
 
Very Good Questions.
 
1st Yes, there is no doubt that excluders can be a "honey" excluder and
reduce the total honey crop and increase swarming under many if not most
conditions. It depends on the type of nectar flows you have in your area.
If they are long and wet, low sugar, then excluders may make the difference
between a crop and NO crop as without them the bees in time will turn all
the surplus nectar into brood.
 
If your nectar flow is high in sugar and short and fast then all the
excluder does is to cause the brood area to become choked with honey and
the queen to run out of egg laying room and this is sure to guarantee the
production of queen cells and swarming will result.
 
In some areas the beekeepers have both type of flows and some beekeepers
may go as far to take the excluders on and off depending on the type of
flow and time of year.
 
I personally ran with excluders for years because it make it easier for
unexperienced help to take off honey without having to separate brood until
I decided to take them off. Before I made that decision I took off half the
excluders in a few test yards and after that season never used them again
on any hives not only saving the cost of the excluders but increasing the
production of honey by 100% in some flows and because I had more bees
earlier it become easier to identify failing queens and make up increase.
 
Some strains of bees never do well under excluders as they tend to keep not
only pollen in the brood area but also honey in the brood nest and adding
an excluder so restricts the brood area and they have real problems
building up the necessary populations to make a productive hive. These are
mostly the darker bees, sold as other then Yellow or Golden Banded Italian
Bees in the US.
 
DO NOT cut any holes in your excluders as this is one way to destroy the
value of them.
 
For the OLd timers. At one time in Northern California there was an
isolated old time beekeepers who had moved into the extracted honey era
from the comb honey times of old. He was successful and used a queen
"excluder" made of flat tin that extended over the run or bee space room
from all the side walls of the hive. If you are young enough to know about
section comb honey you will recognize this as the same as the metal strips
many used to hold the boxes in the bottom of the comb supers only fashioned
to extend over the frames from all sides of the box instead of just the
ends. ??? How could that work???
 
Why it worked for him. We all know from experience that the queen is found
in the warmest part of the hive or cluster and if left un checked the bees
will move up and the brood will also. We all assume the queen moves up and
down from brood comb to brood comb or from warm area to warm area. The old
time beekeeper above found from experience that in his operation and in his
area this was true as we all know but the path she took is not how most of
us think it is. The queen does move up with the heat of the hive but uses
the sides and ends of the hive as the path ways and not the combs as today
most beekeepers believe and would tell you if asked.
 
Is this true in all areas or would it work in all bee operations?  I can
not say... but for sure if you have caught or spent as much time as I have
looking for queens as and I can say for a fact more time then not when you
can not find them on the brood combs they will be found running up and down
the side of the boxes and of course I have found them also on the bottom
board, and even outside the hive including more then once under it.<G>
 
ttul, the OLd Drone
 
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