Fellow Beekeepers, Last summer I had lots of brood above the queen excluder. I had two medium boxes below the excluder, with brood and marked queen. Above the excluder, in one (later two) mediums, I had lots of brood. I could not find a queen above the excluder, but since I am a beeginner, I could have overlooked her. How could I get brood above the excluder? The question is academic now,I suppose, but I am still baffled. The hive had an upper entrance--could a recently mated queen take up residence? I put some brood above the excluder when I installed it, to encourage the bees to move through the excluder. Could the bees have raised a queen above the excluder? I have since read on BEE-L that queen excluders are for experienced beekeepers, so I will likely not use them next summer. I will also follow George Imirie's instruction to use three mediums for brood. Your advice is much appreciated. Kyle