Do you use a queen excluder?

[jimbeekeeper]

I am looking to try this season, only using a QX in selected periods e.g. up to end of rape.

Theory being, bees do not like to pass though a QX.

Management of Queen laying will be via super additions and capped honey cells (bees prefer not to pass capped cells)

Jim

 

[Hivemaker.]

Do you do any swarm control?

 

[Bcrazy]

Hi Jim,
I am not sre where your obtaining this informtion about;

Theory being, bees do not like to pass though a QX.

never heard anything like this before. Theory from where? Workers pass through a QE with no problems, I can't understand why you say its different.
Please enlighten me/us.

Management of Queen laying will be via super additions and capped honey cells (bees prefer not to pass capped cells)

Q laying via super additions! What!
Capped honey cells (bees.................cells) Jim I think someone has been telling you porkies.

Regards;

 

[Poly Hive]

Bees pass through Qex's no bother. Bees pass capped honey no bother.
If they didn't why is "travel staining" an issue for comb honey guys?
I have no idea what you are reading Jim but it is not good advice.

The poll is not that useful either. I add excluders when I add supers. So part of the season for me is correct but not all of the season. More accurately would be as I do, add excluders when supering.

PH

 

[Finman]

.
I use 3 brood box system and I do not use excluder to organize yield in the hive. I do not want gates during main yield inside the hive.

It surely makes hives slow to nurse.

As I have said, I may even kill the whole queen for main yield.

 

[jimbeekeeper]

Hi Guys

What emotive responses to a simple question! This ?theory? was part of a presentation by a bee farmer at my local association meeting, so don?t shoot the messenger!

Finmans analogy to ?gates? is how this bee farmer described it. It has not been said that bees will NOT pass though a QX, but they would prefer not to. Its like you carrying a weeks shopping in carrier bags, trying to squeeze though a kissing-gate.

Basic discussion was, QX is added for the rape period, but not used any other times.

Jim (Shot down for going against the grain!)

 

[Hivemaker.]

Better idea, remove all queens and then you won't need excluder,or hives for very long either. then buy more queenless pagage bee's.

 

[mrDoe]

Hi Jim


I don't think your question was out of place at all mate, for what it's worth.

I've heard that queens don't like to cross allot of capped stores, but I've also had queens get through a QX and lay up a couple of supers.

I've also heard it said that queens only leave the hive on mating flights or when swarming, but I've seen a marked queen on the front of a hive when there was no swarming going on; she walked back and forth several times then went back inside - just before dusk - no idea how long she'd been out before I spotted her, and I'd just arrived at the apiary and not started any inspections.

I suspect there are many things to do with beekeeping that we are told are the standard practice, or necessary, but which in fact are mostly popularized myth that's been adopted largely through ignorance. So, I see no harm in questioning the status quo. After all, look at all the Langstroth owners around the world (and nationals in the UK) who have never heard of cell size or considered our constant medication of colonies might be a bad thing, and the funny way we are looked at when we raise such topics; which makes me doubly surprised at the reactions here to your post!



Peter
Cambridge UK

 

[jimbeekeeper]

Thanks Peter for you vote of confidence.

If questions like this are not asked, all we will discus is the same old (which I think was commented on recently)

I think there is a saying that, out of X insane ideas 1 of them will be a revolution. or words to that effect.

Jim

 

[Bcrazy]

Hi Jim,
Sorry to have jumped down your throat so quickly.

You still profess to say that;

It has not been said that bees will NOT pass though a QX, but they would prefer not to.

Jim can this be substantiated? I have never heard of this being a problem.

Regards;

 

[jimbeekeeper]

No problem BCrazy, just a good discussion.

Like I said, it has not been stated that bees will not pass through the excluder, but they would prefer not to. Would you want to?

I have read several times on other forums, where bees have starved, but there are stores above them. Only thing in their ways is the QX.

TBH do not use a QX, and work well, so why not a national or similar? In nature, there are no QX and the bees manage fine segregating there combs.

Jim

 

[Bcrazy]

Jim,

Like I said, it has not been stated that bees will not pass through the excluder, but they would prefer not to. Would you want to?

The bees do not care what obstacles are placed in their way when taking nectar up to the house bees to store. In Seeley's book The Wisdom of the Hive he carried out experiments to see if the bees would give up trying to pass pollen into the brood chamber and nectar to the house bees to store.
They never did give up they would find a way somehow, so by placing the QE above the BC posses no problem for the bees.

I have read several times on other forums, where bees have starved, but there are stores above them. Only thing in their ways is the QE.

This is because the beekeeper has not removed the QE when shutting up for winter, that is down to negligence.



Regards;

 

[Hivemaker.]

In nature no one is going through the colony on a regular basis doing swarm control either.

 

[Finman]

.
You really have skill to change all so complex. You may use QE or not.
It depends what you want.

In winter QE is bad because it hinders Santa come in.

 

[Hivemaker.]

It depends on whether you want brood in supers or not.and i suppose it depends on if you have all the time in the world to find queens ect,which most have,so do as you like.sounds to messy for me,i like to know where the queen is.

 

[Finman]

.
Yes, I have not exluders. It is often that there are some brood or at least drone brood in supers.

One professional told that they have 15 minutes to 10 hive unit with two men. They check one hive and according this they do mechanically to all hives same tricks. So there is no time to go through all boxes and frames. Capped honey off and empty combs in.

They do not joy about bees. They just work.

************

Once I told to Scandinavian biggest beekeeper (3000 hives) that I had not enough time to go through my 20 hives.He laughed:" Oh boy, we checked 450 hives today with 3 men. So 150 hives per day per man. 10 hours. 15 hives per hour and travelling from yard to yard included.

I think that it is not my hobby

 

[tony350i]

i use QE as all ready said you know where the queen is and another reason is i use small cell comb in all my brood boxes and larger cell in the supers,i don't want the queen laying in over sized comb and undoing the work i have put in.
i do think QX can induce swarming if you have a prolific queen and can make the bees a little slow going up into supers in the early spring, i find teasing them up helps with this.

 

[grizzly]

How many of you use a QX under the brood as part of your swarm control ?

I was thinking of trying this on one of my hives.

 

[Bcrazy]

Hi Sweetums

Not sure that stratergy will work as the queen isnot feed for a few days to allow her to fly, and therefore may be able to pass through the QE when swarming.
Why not clip the queens wing?
Regards;

 

[Hivemaker.]

Yes it does work,stops you losing your queen,clipped or not,the bee's do stop feeding the queen for egg laying,but its her abdomen that shrinks back so she can fly,not her thorax.same as a virgin again.does not stop the rest from going out to hang in a tree for a while though.