Queen excluder squashes bees

[lebouche]

I'm not sure what happened, I wan't going to use queen excluders but ended up wanting to.
Anyway,I have the plastic yellow ones and the metal ones with holes punched in them (zinc perhaps?).
Every inspection its a battle to settle them down without squashing bees…so I smoke them down. I have read however that you shouldn't be smoking bees much.
So, should I build a frame for them (I can see excluders with frames being much easier to put back on)? Or should I change my technique and use a brush or something?

Thanks!

 

[Cazza]

Smoking will be fine.
Do you place the QE at an angle to the brood chamber and then rotate it to fit? This tends to squash fewer bees.
Cazza

 

[lebouche]

Smoking will be fine.
Do you place the QE at an angle to the brood chamber and then rotate it to fit? This tends to squash fewer bees.
Cazza

No, I have been scared I will slice and dice them if I do that. They are up into it the second it goes down.

Thanks

 

[Little John]

I fitted my one-and-only (and seldom used) zinc QX with an 8mm rim and and a central support batten - works much better like this than before.

Smoke if you need to.

LJ

 

[lebouche]

I fitted my one-and-only (and seldom used) zinc QX with an 8mm rim and and a central support batten - works much better like this than before.

Smoke if you need to.

LJ

Thanks,
Is the batten diagonal? Also is it 8mm either side?

Thanks

 

[Skyhook]

Framed wire excluders are miles better thn anything else for this reason.

.

 

[Midland Beek]

Framed wire excluders are miles better thn anything else for this reason.

.

Yup. And by the time you have prised an unframed queen excluder off a hive you have agitated the colony.