Flat plastic queen excluders with bottom bee space

[garlicpickle]

I put a super of foundation on a few weeks ago with one of the plastic QX (the ones that are just flat with no frame). I have a standard National with bottom bee space. I checked a few days later and there were only about 20 bees in the super and no attempt had been made to draw foundation.

As I intend to let them keep anything they store in the super over winter, I took the QX off. On checking again a week later the super was busy, the frames mostly drawn out and quite a bit of capped and uncapped stores in.

I'm wondering if the flat excluders with bottom bee space make it hard for the bees to get up there? If it's resting flat on the top of the brood box frames, their only access to the super is through the holes which are directly above the spaces between the frames, which is quite a small percentage of the total number of holes. So I guess they might "prefer" in that instance just to put their stores in the BB.

I can buy a wire excluder ready for next year, but given that I have bottom bee space, is the plastic one only fit for the bin?

 

[drex]

Make a small wooden frame to go under with central cross bar to stop sagging.

 

[enrico]

It isn't a problem, have been using flat metal ones for thirty years. Main problem is the plastic ones seem to have smaller holes!!

 

[itma]

1/ With any all-new super+frames+foundation combo its far from guaranteed that they will "go up" immediately. Only think of using the qx after they have started drawing the shallow frames.

2/ I don't like flat qxs resting on the topbars. Soon they are resting on prop and being bent up into the beespace above which then gets closed down with prop as well! The metal ones spring bees off them as the prop releases, and they kink easily, making the prop problem even worse. Wretched things, whose only advantage is cheapness. You get what you pay for!

3/ There was something about a faulty lot of plastic qxs with the wrong size holes a year or more ago. There may still be some floating around. Check by comparing.

4/ Having a complete spare qx to put under the brood can be importantly helpful, for example when doing a "shook swarm". And because the plastic cuts (relatively) easily, its a ready source of 'bits' of qx for lots of things you may not know or care about yet, but soon might.
So, if the holes are the same size as those in a qx used by a trusted pal, I'd suggest that you put it aside rather than dumping it.
But yes, a framed rigid-wire qx makes inspections much more pleasant than those nasty perforated sheets.

 

[garlicpickle]

thanks all, I'll buy a wire one in readiness for next year and keep this one as a spare.