Do commercial beekeepers use queen excluders?

Many – perhaps most – commercial beekeepers do not use queen excluders, believing that by restricting the movement of the honeybees, the queen excluder inhibits the maximum production of honey. Old-timer beekeepers laughingly refer to queen excluders as “honey excluders”.

Can bees get through queen excluder?

In your bee hive, a queen excluder prevents queens and drones from passing through, but it allows the workers to pass through.

Are queen excluders necessary?

He has found that less brood means less mites and may help the bees to better manage them on their own, especially if swarming is permitted. Using a queen excluder is not “natural”. It's true bees in the wild don't have queen excluders. It seems unnecessary to separate honey from brood by force.

Why do beekeepers use queen excluders?

Why Beekeepers Use Queen Excluders. The main purpose of the queen excluder is to prevent the queen bee from entering honey supers. Boxes near the top of the hive stack are meant to be the honey harvest for the beekeeper. If allowed free range, the queen honey bee will often move up into the honey supers and lay eggs.

Will bees draw comb above a queen excluder?

A beekeeper should make sure drawn comb is directly above the queen excluder with any foundation above that. Better for comb. Use of a queen excluder will almost certainly mean less honey production, but the main benefit of it is that the combs will remain light colored, because no young bees are reared in them.

Using a Queen Excluder on Your Beehive - Should You?

Do all beekeepers clip the Queens wings?

Yes, some beekeepers (particularly those working on a larger scale) will prevent the queen bee from being able to fly by clipping her wings. NOT by 'ripping' them out but, more accurately, by trimming the wings with small sharp scissors (removing no more than a third) so they remain intact but become non-functional.

Do you remove queen excluder in winter?

Should I remove before winter? Yes, in the winter the cluster of bees will move around the hive together. If you leave the Excluder on the hive, you may find the Queen is left behind and will probably die due to exposure. Always remove the Queen Excluder when you are setting up your hives for the winter months.

Do you need a queen excluder in a top bar hive?

The presence of brood among honey storage comb is an indication that the colony wants to get bigger or needs more drone bees. Sometimes however, it becomes necessary to use a queen excluder in a top bar hive. Your decision must be made based on your own objectives and the products you want to harvest from the beehive.

Do bees reuse brood comb?

You can reuse the same brood comb within the same colony for a few years, however after this timeframe, you may consider replacing the brood frames, as the internal diameter of each cell will become progressively smaller over time – even though the nursery bees will clean out each cell, remnants of the cocoon will ...

Do you need a queen excluder in a horizontal hive?

No Queen Excluder

In a horizontal hive, the queen can go wherever she wants. However, as in the wild, she will likely keep the brood in a close-knit section of the box. The rest of the hive will be available for food and honey stores. A queen excluder is one less piece of equipment to buy, store, install, and remove.

When should I remove my queen excluder?

The next rule to follow is when do we take off the queen excluder? Under normal conditions, the excluder will be taken off when you harvest your honey in the period of July to August time frame. This will allow the queen to migrate to the top of the hive and stay warm during the cold months.

When should you Requeen a beehive?

July-September is often viewed as the best time to requeen because it allows your young queen time to become well established with her hive prior to winter. In fact, she may lay some good brood of winter bees.

Can drones get through a queen excluder?

The idea behind a queen excluder is that the worker bees can easily pass through the wire mesh, and the queens cannot. They also exclude the drones. Beekeepers place excluders above the brood box to keep the queen from laying eggs in the honey supers.

What size mesh can bees get through?

With a smaller entrance hole, say half an inch, every opening in the mesh could be easily blocked if the mesh wasn't put in place properly. So that's it. The bees can get through 6mm / quarter inch mesh. But it has to be done right.

How many brood boxes Should I have?

How many brood boxes should you have? The general consensus in most regions of the world is to use either one or two brood boxes. Using three or more means that you are probably doing your bees a disservice. In this case you would be better off splitting the large hive so you can get back to one or two brood boxes.

What does black honeycomb mean?

When areas of a hive's honeycomb turn dark-colored or black, it indicates that those combs are being used to rear baby bees. The same honeycomb cells are used to house baby bees again and again, and a build-up of pollen, bee spit, and other debris is what causes the bee frames to blacken.

Do bees know their keeper?

Bees DO NOT recognize their beekeepers!

Beekeepers are naturally calmer and more careful around bees, so bees just leave them alone.

Can you eat brood comb?

If you're accustomed to eating comb honey then you may also enjoy eating brood honeycomb. Apparently it tastes quite different to light honeycomb. Indeed in some parts of the world this dark comb honey is prized more than other types of honey.

Which is better plastic or metal queen excluder?

The plastic can warp and sag restricting movement of bees between the tops of the frames and the excluder, It is harder to apply heat to them to clean them. Plastic excluders may warp or deform, Plastic excluders have a shorter lifespan than metal.

How much honey can you get from a top bar hive?

As mentioned above, a three-foot long top bar hive with my cross-section size, has a maximum hive weight packed full of honey of about 150 pounds (68 kg). Hive number 10 is about at its maximum weight. I can use its extra honey to feed other colonies.

Do bee hives need an inner cover?

Purpose of an Inner Cover

An inner cover's purpose is that it provides honey bees with more insulation, allows moisture to escape the beehive, and helps circulate fresh air throughout the hive. It also prevents bees from propolizing the hive's outer cover, while functioning as an upper entrance and exit.

How much honey should you leave in the hive for winter?

That being said, you should plan to leave 60 – 90 pounds of honey for your colony to survive winter. This is at least 8-10 full deep frames of honey that must be left on the hive. You should plan to leave 60 – 90 pounds of honey for your colony to survive winter.

Can you leave honey super on over winter?

Yes, you can leave a honey super or several on the hive over Winter. In fact, most beekeepers do have a super or two designated for use by the bees. The size of the box designated as the “food super” for the bees varies from one beekeeper to another and from one region to another.

When should you stop feeding bees for winter?

A: Congratulations on getting your first bees. It is the adventure of a lifetime. Once daytime temperatures drop below 57 degrees stop feeding liquid syrup and switch to a solid sugar board.