Stop using Queen Excluders?

[Etton]

Finman suggested on another thread not to use excluders (until at least July). I'm tempted to follow his advice and remove them all from my brood and a half and my new double brood hives. Does this work for others or any reasons I shouldn't be doing this? Obviously any super frames with brood in would not be used for honey extraction.

 

[Etton]

Finman suggested on another thread not to use excluders (until at least July). I'm tempted to follow his advice and remove them all from my brood and a half and my new double brood hives. Does this work for others or any reasons I shouldn't be doing this? Obviously any super frames with brood in would not be used for honey extraction.

Finman suggested on another thread not to use excluders (until at least July). I'm tempted to follow his advice and remove them all from my brood and a half and my new double brood hives. Does this work for others or any reasons I shouldn't be doing this? Obviously any super frames with brood in would not be used for honey extraction.

 

[madasafish]

What works for Finland with its predictable weather and flowering and hence nectar flows - my not work here...

 

[enrico]

It does mean that the honey can not usually be extracted until the end of the season when the bees start organising their hive ready for winter. That's what I have found anyway! Then you can remove whole supers of honey with no brood.
E

 

[SDM]

Plus we don't have predictably cold winters to protect all those stored supers with larval skins attracting wax moth

 

[Tomlow bee]

So if you've got rape flowering somewhere near, you will end up with supers full of solid rape honey that you have to cut out and melt! Oh joy!

 

[Finman]

.
What about your Rose hive method. It has no excluder.
Read from there, how to do it. Same size frames is not essential.

But if excluder is so essential part of beekeeping, it is better to keep on.

 

[Finman]

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Etton wants do very ordinary things in his hives: Douple brood and use BB as as honey box. (just like Rose).

But advices what he gets is, that it is impossible because you have out there a climate.

Our guys put excluder on at the end of June. Before that they let the gueen lay so much as she can.
.

 

[Finman]

It does mean that the honey can not usually be extracted until the end of the season
E

Not at all

It must be very small colony if honey and brood are in same frames.

 

[Etton]

I thought that too. I can remove honey frames from bb providing no brood. Big Rape field is 30 yards from my apiary, so guess early extraction.

 

[enrico]

I thought that too. I can remove honey frames from bb providing no brood. Big Rape field is 30 yards from my apiary, so guess early extraction.

I did say whole supers, you can remove frames whenever they are available, but I accept the bigger the hive the less likely to get brood in the honey boxes
E

 

[bingevader]

We haven't used queen excluders for a couple of years now.
We don't remove any supers until the end of the summer.
If you were wanting to remove honey earlier in the season, I could see how it might be a problem.
We've never had more than 5 hives though, so nothing is too much effort anyway.

 

[Walrus]

Finman suggested on another thread not to use excluders (until at least July). I'm tempted to follow his advice and remove them all from my brood and a half and my new double brood hives.

Lots of beekeepers in lots of countries don't use excluders, and of course, lots do. Maybe try experimenting with half of your hives and see what the difference is? It would be interesting to know.

The main downside is finding the queen as she could be anywhere, plus there are more boxes where QCs could be started. But I'm sure there are upsides if you have prolific queens.

 

[Bosleeu]

Finman suggested on another thread not to use excluders (until at least July). I'm tempted to follow his advice and remove them all from my brood and a half and my new double brood hives. Does this work for others or any reasons I shouldn't be doing this? Obviously any super frames with brood in would not be used for honey extraction.

It's the best thing I ever did. I have larger colonies, therefore more honey, less swarming and simpler beekeeping.

Downsides are more frames to go through to find the queen or check for cells. You quickly get a lot better at "predicting" where she is though.

You can remove and reorganise boxes and frames to do some extraction earlier if needed.

Sent from my SM-G935F using Tapatalk

 

[Finman]

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If you push smoke between frames, the queen run away.

The queen is inside the dense bee gang when you look the brood box.
Do not open directly from cluster. You may squeeze the queen.

If you do not find the queen, try next time. And you do not need to see queen always.

 

[Finman]

.
Quite sad to read these explanations, when almost everything is impossible and guys claim that they learn every day and the are so innovative.

One box, brood and half , and double brood? All are impossible in Britain.... When I read forum.

And that odd too, excluder, that is odd. Question is, to where you put it.

It is not much demanded, if you yourself follow, what happens, if you put it to here or there. No need to open new thread that for. If you do not know, where, leave it away, and look what bees do.

It took to me many years than bees acted well without excluder. Noboby adviced me. To control ventilation is important that the queen does not go to lay upstairs.

If you have a good system, hang in there, and do not try anything else. Bark all other arrangenment.

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