Ted Wout Wrote:
 
>I have not seen a benefit to spacing 9 frames in a
>brood chamber.  I have seen an advantage to spacing 9 frames in honey
>supers.  It discourages the queen from moving up and the bees will cap off
>the honey very high so that uncapping is a breeze.
>
I'm about to put the first honey super, filled with foundation not drawn
comb, on the most populous of my two colonies (both established from
packages this spring). I'm wary of using a queen excluder because of
suggestions I've seen on this list that the bees will be reluctant to move
up through an excluder to draw foundation. On the other hand, I'd rather
keep the brrod and pollen out of the super. (And, as prolific as this queen
seems to be, I bet she'd move up to use the space in a heartbeat!)
 
If 9-frame spacing will accomplish keeping the queen down without
discouraging the workers from drawing comb, I might be interested in trying
it.
 
Of course, since I plan to pack the harvest chunk or cut-comb style and
hand press any honey to extract it, Maybe I shouldn't worrk and just assume
I can cut around any brood or pollen.
 
Anyone else find that 9-frame spacing in supers helps exclude the queen?
 
Greg
 
______________________________________________________________
Greg Hankins                    Montgomery Packaging
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Voice: (910)576-0067            Fax: (910)576-0367