Do you need to put a excluder on when trying to get honey

[kathyp]

after reading everyones advice on queen excluders, here is what i have done:  i put the honey super on without the excluder.  when the bees moved up and had a good start on drawing comb, i put the excluder on.  this is day 4 that i have had it on and the bees seem fine with it.  i took a look this am and they are busy at work.

i am pretty sure that i did not trap the queen in the upper box, but i will double check in a day or two just to be sure.

[Kris^]

Howdy

    I want to know how about if u use a excluder with the edges cut off and it fits just in the middle but it will leave enough room for the workers to pass and not the queen by she would come up between the frames in the middle she would then bump into the excluder not  on the outside edges.


Tom    

I put an excluder on once sideway, that is, with the long sides going across the hive from side to side instead of from front to back.  The bees went to work on the super okay, but even after they drew some comb out, they quit working it once I spun the excluder around the correct way.  I've also seen suggestions that a flat sheet of plastic smaller than the box's cross section can be laid atop the brood chamber to keep the queen down.  Never tried this, though.

-- Kris

[Brian D. Bray]

For Tom.

When going for comb honey production of honey be aware that the old style of dividers and boxes made getting bees to work it was just as bad as using a queen exlcuder.  Putting on a comb honey super can bring a hives production to a screeching halt unless done properly.
The best way to get comb honey without brood in the comb, in my experience, has been to have the hive draw 3 medium or shallow supers before putting the comb super on.  Then place the comb super so that there are 2 supers of honey above it and 1 below it.  The supers are all in addition to the 2 or 3 used for the brood chamber.
I haven't tried the newer stuff like Ross rounds or the clear plastic frame inserts but I might try the frame inserts--the idea looks better adapted to what the bees will do naturally but the big bugaboo is the cost.