More advice, dead bees stuck in the QE

[kazmcc]

Just looking through the notes from my peep in the hive the other day. I found a fair few bees dead, half stuck in the QE. I made sure none of them were youknowwho, but I've never seen this so far. Why are they stuck halfway through? Why now and never before?

 

[victor meldrew]

Check , they may be drones that got in the super during the previous inspection .
This can happen when supers are placed in front of hive .
The drones are too big to get through the excluder and die in the attempt !

VM

 

[Alabamaeee]

Or a defective QE ala Thornes Yellow variety

 

[kazmcc]

I checked them to make sure none were Madge, and they were all workers, all stuck halfway, dead. I say all, there were only about 15 - 20, but enough to be noticable.

 

[Flatters]

Did you line the QE up the same way as the frames. If they are 90 degrees there may be places at the end of the slots where they meet the frames where a worker could get stuck.

 

[kazmcc]

No, it's an opaque plastic one, and it hasn't happened before, and we've had the QE on since march I think it was.

 

[kazmcc]

Did you line the QE up the same way as the frames. If they are 90 degrees there may be places at the end of the slots where they meet the frames where a worker could get stuck.

I'll check that.

 

[YorkshireBees]

No, it's an opaque plastic one, and it hasn't happened before, and we've had the QE on since march I think it was.

From Thor*nes ?
I had plastic 'Natural' excluders from them and had the same problem, either very few bees in the supers or some stuck in the slots. I called and they replaced them all with metal slotted ones.

 

[freethorpe bees]

Did you line the QE up the same way as the frames. If they are 90 degrees there may be places at the end of the slots where they meet the frames where a worker could get stuck.

What way should a qe go on? Is there a right and a wrong way or have I released those worms again............

 

[region2]

Or a defective QE ala Thornes Yellow variety

Just swapped 4, orange and yellow yesterday. That's gotta hurt...

R2

 

[region2]

Did you line the QE up the same way as the frames. If they are 90 degrees there may be places at the end of the slots where they meet the frames where a worker could get stuck.

90 degrees is, I believe, the correct way...

R2

 

[Flatters]

No can of worms here, I think.

I believe that the frames running the same way as the slots creates more openings. If they are diagonal to each other there is less room. The diagrams are exaggerated but I think illustrates the point.

 

[pipewrench36]

I think there are merits in all these posts. Personally I use the T*****s orange plastic excluders, ( the pre problem variety), where the rows of slots are staggered and not in line. I noticed that by having the slots in line with the frames meant some seams of bees were in line with a vurtually solid line of plastic, thus offerinjg very little if any access. when I placed it at 90 degrees the lines of slots all ran across the seams offering much greater access. I can see that in this situation some bees could get trapped at the end of the slots, although I haven't experienced it. However, I believe some excluders have their slots in line, in which case 'Flatters' is correct.
Why not try putting your Q/E at 90 degrees to what it is now and seeing what happens. Personally I am changing mine for wire ones from a supplier with a very Welsh sounding name.

 

[freethorpe bees]

I've always put mine at 90 degrees, but now I won't worry if I think I've put it back the other way!

 

[Monsieur Abeille]

On the non square hives (WBC, Langstroth etc) there is of course no choice. My WBC excluder is at 90degrees to the BB, so I adopted that for the nationals.

 

[Flatters]

Perhaps it is a can of worms? Visually when I put the QE parallel there looks significantly more room for the bees to get through than at 90 degrees. But then the eye can be deceived, so I may be wrong. (the lines are parallel)

 

[drstitson]

if you put the QE on at 45 degrees the problem goes away BUT HM can get up at the corners!

 

[kazmcc]

Just checked, ours is a metal one, but floppy. Have no idea where it is from, as mentor brought it.

I think I put ours on the way Flatters does it, with the slots running the same way as the frames. Thing is, we've had this on all year and never seen this before, and don't forget, they've filled a super, then unfilled it, then filled it again during that time.

We have been Q- lately, so I wonder if it's just old bees, we've had no new ones for a good while so our whole workforce is aged at the moment. Idk......

 

[kazmcc]

if you put the QE on at 45 degrees the problem goes away BUT HM can get up at the corners!

Are you teasing me? LOL

 

[Cazza]

I was taught a very long time ago by a very old beekeeper to put them on at 90 degrees. I follow him blindly!

Cazza