> Do excluders actually work as well as the proponents think -- in our
> research, we've seen a lot of queens slip through, whether metal or
> plastic.

Yes I have the occasional queen slip through the excluders we use.  It is a
pain but we put up with it.  We use welded wire ones.  I have never been a
fan of plastic ones.  They tend to stick more to the hive when taking the
hive apart and do not lend themselves to cleaning in boiling water.

> Are excluders good management  -- do they actually do more good than harm?

If they are doing harm then I am prepared to wear it.  For me I could not
produce honey, particularly at today's prices, without excluders.

> Frankly, I've seen excluders cause tremendous disruption to colony
> dynamics
> - queens superceded, balled, aborted.  Brood ripped out, etc.  Comb torn
> down.  Resources moved about -- all during nectar flows.

From our experience there could well be some of the above but it is only in
very small numbers.  We tend to not loss many queens during the season.  We
know because we mark our queens.  As for the resouces being moved, we want
the honey shifted from the brood chamber up to the honey supers.

> My problem, how much of this is beekeeper lore or convenience, how much
> based on real knowledge?

It is, in our case, convenience.  I nearly said necessity but I suppose you
could run hives without excluders but it would entail a lot more work and
that translates to cost of production.  There is not knowledge as such
available that I am aware of, just anecdotal evidence from other beekeepers
and our own experience.

For me, it is because of our climate and conditions that I choose to use
excluders.  I can imagine in some parts of the world you could run hives
without excluders.  Reasons I could think of are the way the honey flow
comes in, the price of labour and the price you get for your honey.  All
this does not mean that I do not believe the information that Jerry has
posted just that I could not profitably run honey production colonies
without excluders.

Trevor Weatherhead
AUSTRALIA

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