Peter and Rodney, respectively, have asked, (1) is it advisable to use a
queen excluder when adding comb honey supers after the bees h been shaken
down to one deep (or two medium) brood boxes (2) can comb honey be
successfully produced over two medium brood boxes?

I never use a commercial queen excluder when producing comb honey. Last year
I produced over 3,000 Ross Round sections and found no brood in any.  So far
this year I have taken off 30 supers and have not found a single cell of
brood.  I believe that queens do not like the limited cell space and copious
amount of plastic in a Ross Round super, so rarely choose to deposit eggs.

However, when producing for cut comb or chunk honey some type of queen
excluder is always necessary.  Rather than a commercial excluder I set up my
hives so that at least 2" of capped honey is immediately below the comb
honey super.  The queen will rarely cross this to get into the super.

For a variety of reasons, I often shake bees down to 2 mediums instead of a
single deep.  Two mediums work just as well as a single deep, and a deep
plus a medium works almost as well.  However, two deeps or three mediums are
"too much", and using either is likely to result in no comb honey supers
being drawn.

Hope I have helped,


Lloyd
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Lloyd Spear Owner, Ross Rounds, Inc.  The finest in comb honey production.
Visit our web site at www.RossRounds.com.