Queen excluder on or off for winter?

[Der Alte Fritz]

Standard National brood box and super of stores above.
Large colony so should I take the QE off and replace in spring?
They are due to be moved over to 14x12 brood box next Spring anyway.

 

[oliver90owner]

No queen excluder, ever, over winter.

If you exclude the queen, the bees may go up and leave her to die of cold. Bees may be split from stores above and die of isolation starvation - even worse than just losing the queen!

 

[drstitson]

OFF OFF OFF

should've been removed weeks ago.

 

[region2]

It's logical when you think about it. I guess next year she'll start laying in the super so Fritz will be on a brood and a half...

R2

 

[Hivemaker.]

If you exclude the queen, the bees may go up and leave her to die of cold.

And just to think, there are those that believe bees don't die of cold.

 

[oliver90owner]

so Fritz will be on a brood and a half...

Far better than being dead... and not laying at all...

 

[oliver90owner]

And just to think, there are those that believe bees don't die of cold.

Not me! I know that if they are cooled below 8 degees Celsius they will die in a short time! And I think the temperature actually quoted in the literature is eight point something degrees? How do they suggest bees are killed for checking samples for nosema etc - surely not by leaving them in a freezer for a while? I wonder what temps queen wasps and bumbles can tolerate when actually hibernating?

RAB

 

[Vergilius]

so Fritz will be on a brood and a half...

Far better than being dead... and not laying at all...

A queen dying during mid-winter would most probably be the end of your colony...

 

[mbc]

No queen excluder, ever, over winter.

If you exclude the queen, the bees may go up and leave her to die of cold. Bees may be split from stores above and die of isolation starvation - even worse than just losing the queen!

This

 

[region2]

Off to collect a wild colony from a hedge today (if it's warm enough) - looked at it yesterday, in an awkward place (steep slope) with barbed wire. Will die of cold if left over winter...

R2

 

[oliver90owner]

Will die of cold if left over winter...

Wear warm clothes and carry a mobile phone with you.

 

[region2]

Will die of cold if left over winter...

Wear warm clothes and carry a mobile phone with you.

Good advice Rab - luckily it's in someone's garden and I'll have a helper or two (thanks for your offer Ben, I've PM'd you back!).

I'm a surveyor and 'lone worker' guidance is considered very important - stories of surveyors bleeding to death in empty houses are rife! Yet swarm collection / out apiary working could just as easily be lethal so maybe we should have similar guidance if we don't already!

R2

 

[Vergilius]

Good advice Rab - luckily it's in someone's garden and I'll have a helper or two (thanks for your offer Ben, I've PM'd you back!).

I'm a surveyor and 'lone worker' guidance is considered very important - stories of surveyors bleeding to death in empty houses are rife! Yet swarm collection / out apiary working could just as easily be lethal so maybe we should have similar guidance if we don't already!

R2

I've got a funny feeling that RAB's comment may have been a somewhat sarcastic one...

 

[mbc]

I've got a funny feeling that RAB's comment may have been a somewhat sarcastic one...

surely not. Longjohns are essential for winter swarm collections

 

[region2]

That's the joy of emails/postings - without emoticons the tone is lost. I suspect he was giving good advice along the lines of keep your distance and slow down. Perhaps obvious to most of us but occasionally lost on some beekeepers/drivers...

R2

 

[region2]

Oh and the colony is only 5 metres from my neighbour and 150 metres from my home so (mental) risk assessment puts this at Medium to Low...

R2

 

[Storm™]

Really Ben - it does not wiff at all of sarcasm. Oh and that's not an ironic reply lol (just so you know lol).

 

[Phil280]

Hi there.

I go with the rest here...never leave QE on over winter.
The cluster will move around the stores and your queen will be left behind at the QE and most certainly die.

Greets
Phil

p.s. good luck with the hedge.

 

[region2]

p.s. good luck with the hedge.

I've enlisted the help of our Division's Chair - she assures me that she's as nimble as a goat so I'm expecting this to go rather well...

R2
ps. Hi Heather - see you after lunch!

 

[Suzi Q]

What's your plan then R2? Would love to be there and watch/help.