Lloyd Spear wrote:

> "Most in the UK would not use brood comb for extrcated honey production."
>
>Actually, the same is true in the US.  Only in very unusual instances would
brood comb be used to produce extracted honey.  But the real question is ...
do 'most' beekeepers use queen excluders when they are producing honey for
extraction? In my 'educated' opinion, most commercial beekeepers in the US
use excluders when producing honey for extraction, but some commercial
beekeepers do not.

Pete:

I worked for many beekeepers in California during the 70s and 80s and I
rarely ever saw a commercial hive with queen excluders. Most used all deeps
and the queen was permitted to go anywhere. In fact, I observed that the
bees store honey in old brood combs first, before putting it in light
colored combs. 

Since coming to NY State, I have seen many beekeepers using excluders and
various sizes of honey supers (medium, shallow, comb honey, 7", etc.). All
the same, I know several in this county that use deeps only and make no
distinction between a brood frame and a honey frame. I don't know what the
actual percentage is and how this may vary from region to region. 

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