[log in to unmask] (Edward Sterling) says: >.......my "beeyard" instructor grumped at queen excluders and said "they oughta be called 'honey excluders'...(grumble grumble)." Allen Dick has a given a good rundown of principles that apply here, and I'll give a hearty "amen" to his comments, only adding: In areas with spotty, sporadic or extended weak flows (like SC coastal areas after the spring flow), if a hive is in three boxes, with a good (young) queen, and no excluder, you'll often arrive at fall with a powerful colony, three boxes of brood, and not a drop of honey. It can get real expensive to give hives ALL their winter feed, so I have to have thel bees in a single deep under an excluder by July 1, if not sooner. [log in to unmask] Dave Green