Virgin queen above queen excluder

[theworker]

One of my hives swarmed on 6th May and I left an open queen cell and removed all others as per usual and said I would leave it alone for about 5 weeks for it to get going again.
TodayI was checking all the other hives in the vicinity, so I gave this one a small bit of smoke and gave a peep under the roof and crown board just to see that all was OK. I had left the QE on and usually do for ease of storage and who was above the QE but a virgin queen. Nicely built but small. Is it possible for an unmated queen to go through the QE? She tried to get back through it but was making hard work of it so I just turned the QE over and let her run in.
First time I have ever seen this.

 

[Poly Hive]

The evidence says the answer to your Q is yes. LOL

PH

 

[oliver90owner]

Nicely built but small. Is it possible for an unmated queen to go through the QE?

It is also possible for a small mated queen to go through the queen excluder, let alone a virgin.

Not that it makes any difference, but it is only three weeks of your 'five'. You may be OK if she was trapped there (re mating) as she is still young enough to get mated, but do you really want a queen that can get through the excluder. I know I don't!