As a newby trying to move from being a “beehaver” to a “beekeeper” I very much appreciate the clear explanation of an excluder in simple terms I can understand. I also now have a better explanation of foundation and comb. Beekeeping needs a dictionary!! :) Thank you again.
Thank you for sharing. I'm new beekeeper in MA with my first overwintered colony.. I have been struggling with the Queen Excluder decision. This clears it up perfectly. TY
I stopped right in the middle to tell you that you're the first to explain things that this noobie can understand. Most veteran beekeepers use so much jargon in their explanations that I don't know what they're talking about.
Good info, I have looked into beekeeping a few times, even started to build equipment. I thought if I do start to do all mediums and start with two hives. Have thought of double queen hives for stronger hives and faster buildup with a medium between brood chambers (target 2 mediums each) also to give a spare medium below the brood to equal the 2 deep for resources.
Great video Peter. I learned those lessons last year and had no problems with my Q excluder. I bought some Better Bee artificial drawn comb and used 2-3 in each super of foundation with no QE for 10 days and then put on the QE. One hive had a nice honey rim on the top box so I didn't use a QE and it worked well also but the two hives with a QE out produced the hive without a QE. Now with drawn comb to work with it should be easier.
You are the only bee person that shows an example of exactly what you are talking about. For me, this is the best way to actually understand it fully. Great job.
Thank you Peter. The information your providing is a great tool, for those of us just getting into beekeeping. I am looking forward to the overwintering hive sizes episode. Because I’m curious about single brood box overwintering management.
Thanks! Having really increased them number of Singles I overwintered this year I look forward to comparing results. It certainly increased my honey production last year. So many videos to make!!
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer I look forward to learning as much as I can from them. thank you for your time and dedication as well as education. I know with the amount of information I’m taking in I can make this a good first year!
Thank you, I really did find it helpful, keep that good solid information coming and you will do well and I like the fact that you are biologist, let us in on some of your insights when possible. I think it is Randy Oliver that says if you want to be a good beekeeper learn bee biology. Once again thank you!
Hi , interesting video thanks, all very informative, it can be a big debate for or against Queen excluders, I use them myself you mentioned the bees were building comb on the excluder with the wooden frame , in my opinion this is because it has been designed wrongly ie the one you showed has bee space on Both sides and when you have bottom bee space on a super you end up with doublebee space, I use wooden framed Queen excluders with bee space on one side only , and find little brace comb, regards john
Peter, thank you for the excellent information. Your videos have been the most helpful that I’ve found as a new beekeeper. Question: Once the honey super has been about half drawn around mid- to late-summer, would that also be a good time to shake all the bees down into a single deep, add a queen excluder above the bottom deep, and transition to single brood chamber management? I’m hoping to run one of my hives as a double brood chamber and one as a single brood chamber in order to determine which I prefer long-term.
Very good overview of the subject, and that puts you in the company of Bob Binnie and Ian at Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog as far as good useful beekeeping resources!
ive noticed that most queen excluders lay directly on top of the frames of bees from the brood chamber which covers the holes where the frames come into contact below. The excluder needs to sit a little above giving more room from the bees to get through all the holes in the excluder.
Great video. Has given me thoughts for next year's spring start. Was already thinking of placing a super on top of my brood when the flow begins here in the UK. Use as brood and a half to begin with to give them space. Then after the Queens starting laying up in the super I shall introduce the QC. Your accent has thrown me??
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer brilliant, I must admit I thought you were a fellow Brit filming in the countryside. Until I saw your plug sockets in the background! Great vids. Looking forward to watching.
@@reade79 quite surprising that a fellow brit watches an American channel (he is easier to listen to than most and more practical ) what type of bees are you keeping in the Midlands ?
Newby here. Natural vs Small Frame Bees. The Queens! Are they a Smaller "Size" Bee, than the "Natural Bee"? That maybe the Excluders don't work with Small Frame Bee Queens? Seems a smaller bee "Small Frame Bee" would be a "Smaller Bee" vs a Natural Size Bee.. I have been wondering.. I had a swarm move into a box when I was not raising bees. I have nothing to compare them too. I don't know of anyone who raises bees around me.. These bees have lived on their own for 5 years now. No die outs in the winter, which was the reason I stopped keeping them. So, I am interested in making some queens from them and raising them. I lost 10 of 12 hives twice.
If your plan is followed (start honey super without queen excluder then shake bees and add excluder late in the season) how will any drones get out of the honey super once they emerge as part of the brood that was laid prior to the excluder being installed? Drones are also too big to go through a queen excluder. I have heard you need to install an inner cover (on top of the honey super) that has a slot on the edge such that there is a second entrance (drone exit) however you never mentioned that.
That's true, unless there is an upper entrance such as the notch in the inner cover drones are trapped. When there has not been one I find their disassembled bodies on the queen excluder....tough life.
This is where I'm at. Beginner beekeeper and I added my supers to 2 hives 2 weeks ago, only foundation, and bees have done nothing albeit weather hasn't been great. Going to take queen excluder off for a couple weeks see if makes a difference. As long as we take add it back 4 weeks before harvest, presumably to allow any brood to hatch and leave cell by harvest time? Thanks
This is very helpful. I will try this for sure. Do you also suggest having a top entrance to the super to help out with bee traffic to the super? I hear a lot of beekeepers do this.
A lot of people believe this and get very adamant about it. It comes down to people making the mistake you talk about when they start beekeeping. When people tell me queen excluders are honey excluders, I just smile and say it is a tool that is useful if used properly.
Nice video!! I would like to ask: 1) using plastic instead of a metal excluder, can it be easier to swarm the colony? 2) if I have put the excluder during the swarm period, and every week I inspect the brood nest and if it has 7-8 frames with brood, then I remove 2 of them and put them on top of the excluder, can this method prevent swarming? Thanks a lot
If by "swarm the colony" you mean to split the colony....yes it is a very useful tool to confine the queen. In a way what you are describing in 2 is a version of the Damaree method for swarm control. Keep the queen down below, remove frames of open brood and place above the excluder moving capped and immerging frames back down below the excluder to be re-filled with larvae and so on.
For me it’s burnt once twice shy. When I started beekeeping I listened to many so called indentured bee keepers who said negative things about excluders. My first year was a disaster with regards to how the medium supers had so much brood in them. Drone brood as well. What a mess. Super labour intensive come extraction time. Following that debacle Queen excluders are now the norm. Single brood box then add another brood chamber with excluder then super til August. Won’t swarm when they have room, supers have honey only, extracting is a breeze, honey frames stay clean.
What I meant was that many folks call queen excluders honey excluders because if not used right they reduce the honey crop or can even lead to swarming.
ive put up some of my largest honey crops with queen excluders on. my bees have no problem drawning out new comb above an excluder. it really makes my management 100% easier. they make doing splits easier. almost everything beekeepers do a queen excluder can make it easier.
They are a useful tool indeed. But it does vary between colonies and many will swarm if a super of foundation is put above a queen excluder so, as many of my audience are seeking advice my advice is to wait until there is some drawn comb (or add some) before a queen exclude is used as MOST hives will swarm otherwise.
Have you noticed that the cracks seem to be fairly evenly spaced, this is caused by weld lines when the plastic was injected, they could have reduced the effect of weld lines by running the tool a little warmer and by increasing the packing cycle slightly. I am in warmer climes so I use metal excluders, but I can totally understand the need for plastic ones in cooler climates.
The plastics industry is realy making a rod for their own backs by using PP instead of HDPE, it is a cost cutting measure. It is possible to use UV30 PP or UV30 HDPE, and the life if the excluders would be extended many times over. Oh by the way I see in the background that you have some boxes in garbags, this does not work for me because argentine ants will find any flaw in the plastic and open it up, then when you open the bags it will be full of ants and corruption. It also makes the wax sweat and it stinks when exposed. I store my frames of honey and drawn frames in a coolroom, after freezing to kill any wax moth residue.
Humm, if you put a honey supper (BTW: you should have all deeps to standardize your apiary) without queen excluder you will have to deal with the queen, eggs and brood but what you want is honey. So what I do is to put 3 or 4 frames with brood in the honey supper so that the nurse bees will move up. But I can see why you don't recommend to do that, it is because you want to sell medium boxes and frames and the brook frames are deep and they don't fit in you medium box, hummm. Gotcha you !
Me, I don't want to use a deep for honey, to dang heavy. Using Better Bee synthetic comb will do the same thing if you are a new Beek. Do you think that Peter doesn't make any money selling deeps? The margins usually profit the more expensive item. A 20% margin on a $20 medium box is $4 and a 20% margin on a $30 dollar deep is $6. Just saying.
![Queen Excluders - Materials and Options | Which one is right for my needs? [Advice from a Beekeeper]](/img/n.gif)
As a newby trying to move from being a “beehaver” to a “beekeeper” I very much appreciate the clear explanation of an excluder in simple terms I can understand. I also now have a better explanation of foundation and comb. Beekeeping needs a dictionary!! :)
Thank you again.
Thank you for this fantastic explanation. Clean and concise. Thank you and may God bless you for sharing this with the internet!
The best discussion of using queen excluders that I've heard in seven years of beekeeping. Thank you for the
practical information.
I appreciate the comment!
Thank you !! By far best and most understandable queen excluder Visio out there !!!!
Thanks very much!
Excellent practical beekeeping video. You’ve just gained a new fan/follower!
Thank you for sharing. I'm new beekeeper in MA with my first overwintered colony.. I have been struggling with the Queen Excluder decision. This clears it up perfectly. TY
Glad it helps. I started my beekeeping in Hopkinton MA
I stopped right in the middle to tell you that you're the first to explain things that this noobie can understand. Most veteran beekeepers use so much jargon in their explanations that I don't know what they're talking about.
Haha Thank you!
Thank you so much. for the knowledge you have given
Thank you for educating me on excluders. Very informative and answered why I had problems with them my first year of bee keeping.
I would bet they are the biggest cause of swarms for first year beekeepers. Very useful when used right.
Good info, I have looked into beekeeping a few times, even started to build equipment. I thought if I do start to do all mediums and start with two hives. Have thought of double queen hives for stronger hives and faster buildup with a medium between brood chambers (target 2 mediums each) also to give a spare medium below the brood to equal the 2 deep for resources.
Another benefit of metal excluders over plastic, is that you can use your torch to clean up the wax and propolis
Good point
Great video Peter. I learned those lessons last year and had no problems with my Q excluder. I bought some Better Bee artificial drawn comb and used 2-3 in each super of foundation with no QE for 10 days and then put on the QE. One hive had a nice honey rim on the top box so I didn't use a QE and it worked well also but the two hives with a QE out produced the hive without a QE. Now with drawn comb to work with it should be easier.
Yes I should have mentioned the honey rim as an alternative to a QE
! Good point.
Thank you for sharing a clear and honest review of some types of queen excluder you are truly awesome and helpful ^^
Thank you so much!
Great videos Peter. Thank you for taking your time and sharing your experience.
You are the only bee person that shows an example of exactly what you are talking about. For me, this is the best way to actually understand it fully. Great job.
Glad it was helpful!
See Bob Binnie, Kamin Reynolds, Mike Palmer or Cory Stevens
Thank you Peter. The information your providing is a great tool, for those of us just getting into beekeeping. I am looking forward to the overwintering hive sizes episode. Because I’m curious about single brood box overwintering management.
Thanks! Having really increased them number of Singles I overwintered this year I look forward to comparing results. It certainly increased my honey production last year. So many videos to make!!
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer I look forward to learning as much as I can from them. thank you for your time and dedication as well as education. I know with the amount of information I’m taking in I can make this a good first year!
I’m waiting for someone to develop the ”queenless” hive, kinda like seedless watermelons. That would simplify beekeeping, lol.
Thank you, I really did find it helpful, keep that good solid information coming and you will do well and I like the fact that you are biologist, let us in on some of your insights when possible. I think it is Randy Oliver that says if you want to be a good beekeeper learn bee biology. Once again thank you!
And I should add that I totally agree with Randy Oliver that was some of the best advice I have ever received.
That's a guy that knows his stuff!
Hi , interesting video thanks, all very informative, it can be a big debate for or against Queen excluders, I use them myself you mentioned the bees were building comb on the excluder with the wooden frame , in my opinion this is because it has been designed wrongly ie the one you showed has bee space on Both sides and when you have bottom bee space on a super you end up with doublebee space, I use wooden framed Queen excluders with bee space on one side only , and find little brace comb, regards john
Thanks for sharing!
Peter, thank you for the excellent information. Your videos have been the most helpful that I’ve found as a new beekeeper. Question: Once the honey super has been about half drawn around mid- to late-summer, would that also be a good time to shake all the bees down into a single deep, add a queen excluder above the bottom deep, and transition to single brood chamber management? I’m hoping to run one of my hives as a double brood chamber and one as a single brood chamber in order to determine which I prefer long-term.
I haven't tried it late in the season, ideal is just before peak honeyflow but I see no reason why that wont work.
Very good overview of the subject, and that puts you in the company of Bob Binnie and Ian at Canadian Beekeeper’s Blog as far as good useful beekeeping resources!
Wow! That must be the highest compliment I have ever received. Thank you!
Very very nice !! more of that pls
More to come!
ive noticed that most queen excluders lay directly on top of the frames of bees from the brood chamber which covers the holes where the frames come into contact below. The excluder needs to sit a little above giving more room from the bees to get through all the holes in the excluder.
Yes it sometimes pays to put a couple of thing sticks underneath to increase access.
I use Queem excluders
Great video. Has given me thoughts for next year's spring start. Was already thinking of placing a super on top of my brood when the flow begins here in the UK. Use as brood and a half to begin with to give them space. Then after the Queens starting laying up in the super I shall introduce the QC.
Your accent has thrown me??
LOL, I call it mid Atlantic! In USA till I was 14 then Isle of man for 5 years, Newcastle for 20 years then back to USA last 20 years
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer brilliant, I must admit I thought you were a fellow Brit filming in the countryside. Until I saw your plug sockets in the background! Great vids. Looking forward to watching.
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer I'm in the West Midlands. Birmingham.
@@reade79 quite surprising that a fellow brit watches an American channel (he is easier to listen to than most and more practical ) what type of bees are you keeping in the Midlands ?
@@johnstockburn6396 Generally Buckfast. But a couple of my hives are mongrel colonies. This year though, I'd say they're all super swarm bees!
Does it work if you just move a frame with brood above the excluder? and maybe use a deep as your first super?
Should do.
Newby here. Natural vs Small Frame Bees. The Queens! Are they a Smaller "Size" Bee, than the "Natural Bee"? That maybe the Excluders don't work with Small Frame Bee Queens? Seems a smaller bee "Small Frame Bee" would be a "Smaller Bee" vs a Natural Size Bee.. I have been wondering..
I had a swarm move into a box when I was not raising bees. I have nothing to compare them too. I don't know of anyone who raises bees around me.. These bees have lived on their own for 5 years now. No die outs in the winter, which was the reason I stopped keeping them. So, I am interested in making some queens from them and raising them. I lost 10 of 12 hives twice.
If your plan is followed (start honey super without queen excluder then shake bees and add excluder late in the season) how will any drones get out of the honey super once they emerge as part of the brood that was laid prior to the excluder being installed? Drones are also too big to go through a queen excluder. I have heard you need to install an inner cover (on top of the honey super) that has a slot on the edge such that there is a second entrance (drone exit) however you never mentioned that.
That's true, unless there is an upper entrance such as the notch in the inner cover drones are trapped. When there has not been one I find their disassembled bodies on the queen excluder....tough life.
great video , How to you clean your metal excluders ?
Thank you for the very useful information!!!✅😁🏴☠️
Thanks!
Love this Chanel
THANKS! Tell your friends!
Good video. Thank you.
Thank you too!
This is where I'm at. Beginner beekeeper and I added my supers to 2 hives 2 weeks ago, only foundation, and bees have done nothing albeit weather hasn't been great. Going to take queen excluder off for a couple weeks see if makes a difference. As long as we take add it back 4 weeks before harvest, presumably to allow any brood to hatch and leave cell by harvest time? Thanks
Very helpful !
Glad you think so!
This is very helpful. I will try this for sure. Do you also suggest having a top entrance to the super to help out with bee traffic to the super? I hear a lot of beekeepers do this.
A second entrance is OK in a strong hive during a honeyflow but can lead to problems when you want to close it.
@@BeekeepingwithTheBeeWhisperer I could close it with a big propolis ball couldn’t I?!
WOW! Interesting video. Thank you or sharing.
1 or 2 brood chambers? I always see the pros with one but I thought about going with 2 so there is more stores for winter.
Is it true that the queen will not move up through a sper full of honey. If thats correct could you just have a super of stores to act as the excluder
It is usually true but not always.
A lot of people believe this and get very adamant about it. It comes down to people making the mistake you talk about when they start beekeeping. When people tell me queen excluders are honey excluders, I just smile and say it is a tool that is useful if used properly.
Could not agree more!
Nice video!! I would like to ask: 1) using plastic instead of a metal excluder, can it be easier to swarm the colony? 2) if I have put the excluder during the swarm period, and every week I inspect the brood nest and if it has 7-8 frames with brood, then I remove 2 of them and put them on top of the excluder, can this method prevent swarming? Thanks a lot
If by "swarm the colony" you mean to split the colony....yes it is a very useful tool to confine the queen. In a way what you are describing in 2 is a version of the Damaree method for swarm control. Keep the queen down below, remove frames of open brood and place above the excluder moving capped and immerging frames back down below the excluder to be re-filled with larvae and so on.
For me it’s burnt once twice shy. When I started beekeeping I listened to many so called indentured bee keepers who said negative things about excluders. My first year was a disaster with regards to how the medium supers had so much brood in them. Drone brood as well. What a mess. Super labour intensive come extraction time. Following that debacle Queen excluders are now the norm. Single brood box then add another brood chamber with excluder then super til August. Won’t swarm when they have room, supers have honey only, extracting is a breeze, honey frames stay clean.
Yes I do prefer a brood free honeysuper!
I can't wait to get my first hive
Be warned. its adictive!
You never made clear what exactly is a honey excluder and how does it differ from a queen excluder
What I meant was that many folks call queen excluders honey excluders because if not used right they reduce the honey crop or can even lead to swarming.
This is a perfect content 👌 👏
Thank you for the compliment.
ive put up some of my largest honey crops with queen excluders on. my bees have no problem drawning out new comb above an excluder. it really makes my management 100% easier. they make doing splits easier. almost everything beekeepers do a queen excluder can make it easier.
They are a useful tool indeed. But it does vary between colonies and many will swarm if a super of foundation is put above a queen excluder so, as many of my audience are seeking advice my advice is to wait until there is some drawn comb (or add some) before a queen exclude is used as MOST hives will swarm otherwise.
Have you noticed that the cracks seem to be fairly evenly spaced, this is caused by weld lines when the plastic was injected, they could have reduced the effect of weld lines by running the tool a little warmer and by increasing the packing cycle slightly. I am in warmer climes so I use metal excluders, but I can totally understand the need for plastic ones in cooler climates.
Interesting, thanks for the insight.
The plastics industry is realy making a rod for their own backs by using PP instead of HDPE, it is a cost cutting measure. It is possible to use UV30 PP or UV30 HDPE, and the life if the excluders would be extended many times over. Oh by the way I see in the background that you have some boxes in garbags, this does not work for me because argentine ants will find any flaw in the plastic and open it up, then when you open the bags it will be full of ants and corruption. It also makes the wax sweat and it stinks when exposed. I store my frames of honey and drawn frames in a coolroom, after freezing to kill any wax moth residue.
Am in Uganda and l prefer to use queen excluder where exactly can I get it from and how much is it
Humm, if you put a honey supper (BTW: you should have all deeps to standardize your apiary) without queen excluder you will have to deal with the queen, eggs and brood but what you want is honey.
So what I do is to put 3 or 4 frames with brood in the honey supper so that the nurse bees will move up.
But I can see why you don't recommend to do that, it is because you want to sell medium boxes and frames and the brook frames are deep and they don't fit in you medium box, hummm. Gotcha you !
These videos are what I do , not a sales pitch....if it were I would rather sell more deep supers than mediums!
Me, I don't want to use a deep for honey, to dang heavy. Using Better Bee synthetic comb will do the same thing if you are a new Beek. Do you think that Peter doesn't make any money selling deeps? The margins usually profit the more expensive item. A 20% margin on a $20 medium box is $4 and a 20% margin on a $30 dollar deep is $6. Just saying.
Thank you Sir. Shalom
You are welcome!