queen excluder , yes or no

[irishguy]

Ive been reading online that some beekeeprs dont use these and wondering how many on here wouldnt be using one in their hives. When starting out readinbg about beekeeping, i thought they where a must but after reading more online about them, now im in 2 minds are they worth it.

 

[Tom Bick]

Personally as a beginner you will be advised to use one and a wire one at that.

 

[sugarbush]

No...

 

[Swarm]

I'd say for a beginner, yes. Get used to the bees first.

 

[Chrisfnvs]

I tend not to use them now unless i have to that is, but as above it may be advisable for new beekeepers to use one at first.

 

[irishguy]

Personally as a beginner you will be advised to use one and a wire one at that.

Why a wire one and not plastic.

 

[Tom Bick]

Why a wire one and not plastic.

Plastic is Ok for emergency in my opinion. The bees stick them down to the top of the frames and you have to pull them off each time you inspect and it makes the bees react. When you refit the excluder it's almost impossible not to trap bees. This pulling off and the bees re sticking the excluder in time makes a mess of the top of the frames. Trust me a wire excluder well worth the extra.

 

[oliver90owner]

I use them. But not often - only when needed to exclude the queen.

Finman avoids them as well.

RAB

 

[fiftyjon]

Ive been reading online that some beekeeprs dont use these and wondering how many on here wouldnt be using one in their hives. When starting out readinbg about beekeeping, i thought they where a must but after reading more online about them, now im in 2 minds are they worth it.

Yes and no, depends on what you want to achieve.

Agree with RAB.

 

[Goran]

Spooky..
Picture before cleaning, repairing and storing for next season...

 

[Itchy]

Why would bees propolise plastic more than metal, or is metal just easier to clean?

 

[Hivemaker.]

Why would bees propolise plastic more than metal,

They don't, well mine don't when i use them.

 

[alanf]

Why would bees propolise plastic more than metal, or is metal just easier to clean?

The expensive ones are wooden frames around a wire screen. The frame makes a beespace over national frames. A cheaper plastic (or perforated metal) QE sits on the frames without a gap. The propolis it does get sticks the metal to the frames so it's slower to remove. You can make a frame for a plastic QE but it tends to sag, or you could save a few quid by buying an unframed wire grid and framing it yourself.

And yes, plastic is slower to clean because you can't melt any wax with a brief flaming.

 

[Hivemaker.]

And yes, plastic is slower to clean because you can't melt any wax with a brief flaming.

Dipping them, 30 or so at a time into a boiler of hot water and lye is reasonably fast, for large amounts that is of course.

 

[Queens59]

I used one for the first 2 - 3 years - now only if I REALLY need to know where the Queen is...

 

[Walrus]

I don't use mine now except to keep a queen at home for a couple of days when hiving a swarm

 

[farbee]

Dipping them, 30 or so at a time into a boiler of hot water and lye is reasonably fast, for large amounts that is of course.

And take care as solution is pretty corrosive.

 

[pargyle]

Personally as a beginner you will be advised to use one and a wire one at that.

What is the advantage of a QE to a beginner ?

Obviously, with a Long Deep Hive, I've not needed or used a QE but I'm interested to know why it will help a beginner ... It only keeps the queen confined to the Brood box and stops her laying in the supers but from what Finman says it has disadvantages...

 

[Tom Bick]

I am interested to know from the people that don’t use queen excluders do you just allow the bees and queen the full run of the boxes and come the end of the season extract everything that is capped honey. Or do you use the queen excluder over a brood box or brood boxes and when the first super is full you then remove the queen excluder. If it’s the latter does the full super act as the queen excluder or does what I would expect slowly over the remaining season the brood nest slowly migrate perhaps into this super or even beyond.

I am reasonably curious to try one day and in some way it would fit in with my tree hugging approach to things, but I also like things to be neat and tidy and rather like my queen excluders for now at least.

 

[Tom Bick]

What is the advantage of a QE to a beginner ?

Obviously, with a Long Deep Hive, I've not needed or used a QE but I'm interested to know why it will help a beginner ... It only keeps the queen confined to the Brood box and stops her laying in the supers but from what Finman says it has disadvantages...

The ability to restrict the queen to one part of the hive for one and therefore make finding her perhaps that bit easier to locate, especially if you have just spotted queen cells and suddenly one bee amongst 50,000 can be a bit tricky to locate. Much better to narrow down the search first, especially if you are a novice.