The Pros And Cons Of A Queen Excluder You Need To Know

Queen excluders, used in beekeeping to prevent the queen bee from accessing the honey supers, have both advantages and disadvantages. The primary benefit is that they ensure the honeycomb remains free of brood, making the honey easier to harvest and of higher purity. However, the downside includes potentially restricting the queen’s laying space, which can stress the colony, and sometimes worker bees are reluctant to pass through the excluder, potentially reducing honey production in the supers. Additionally, excluders can become a barrier if the colony needs to move in response to temperature changes, potentially leading to issues with thermoregulation within the hive.

In the below paragraphs, we will take a more detailed look at this topic.

The queen excluder is an essential tool for beekeepers who want to effectively manage their beehives. This article will explore in detail what a queen excluder is, how it operates, and the benefits it provides beekeepers.

History of Queen Excluders

One of the significant turning points in modern beekeeping came with the development of the queen excluder. It’s fascinating to observe how this simple tool has influenced the beekeeping landscape, proving its utility time and again.

The inception of the queen excluder dates back to the late 19th century. As beekeepers began to understand more about the behavior and biology of bees, they noted the size difference between the queen and her worker bees. They realized that they could use this disparity to their advantage. Queen excluders were designed to limit the movement of the larger queen bee, preventing her from laying eggs in places where beekeepers would rather have honey.

In the early days, queen excluders were made of perforated zinc. The holes were large enough to allow worker bees to pass through, but small enough to prevent the queen from doing so. This way, the brood was kept separate from the honey, making the honey harvest easier and cleaner.

Over the years, the design and materials used in queen excluders have evolved. Today, you can find queen excluders made from various materials like metal, plastic, and wood. Each material has its own advantages and disadvantages, and the choice depends on the beekeeper’s preferences and the specific conditions of their hives. For instance, plastic excluders are light and easy to handle but might not be as durable as their metal counterparts. Metal excluders, while sturdier, may require more careful handling to avoid injuring the bees.

Types of Queen Excluders

Queen excluders are indispensable tools in the world of beekeeping, designed to keep our egg-laying queen bees confined to the brood chamber, while allowing worker bees to freely pass and produce honey in the supers. Let’s delve into the fascinating variety of queen excluders that beekeepers around the world use.

Metal Queen Excluders

One of the most common types of queen excluders is the Metal Queen Excluder. These are typically made from zinc-plated steel or stainless steel. The metal design is renowned for its durability and ability to withstand years of use. Despite being a bit heavier, they provide a firm structure that worker bees can cross without difficulty. Beekeepers appreciate their rigidity as they maintain their shape and size even under harsh weather conditions or during hive inspections.

Plastic Queen Excluders

Another popular option is the Plastic Queen Excluder. They are made from durable plastic and are known for their lightweight design. Their edges are smooth, reducing the risk of injuring the bees as they move through the excluder. Plastic excluders are often cheaper than their metal counterparts and can be easily cleaned and maintained. However, keep in mind that plastic excluders might warp or become brittle over time, especially when exposed to extreme temperature changes.

Wood-Bound Queen Excluders

If you’re looking for a more traditional look, Wood-Bound Queen Excluders could be your choice. These excluders consist of metal or plastic grids that are encased in a wooden frame. The wooden frame can be beneficial as it adds weight and stability to the excluder, ensuring it sits firmly on the brood box. They add a touch of charm to your beehive, but they may require more maintenance to prevent the wood from rotting or warping.

Wire Queen Excluders

Wire Queen Excluders are less common but still used by some beekeepers. These excluders are made from precisely spaced wires that allow worker bees to pass through but restrict the larger queen bee. They are known for their flexibility and ease of use. However, their durability can be a concern as they may bend or warp over time.

Each of these queen excluders comes with its own set of advantages and considerations, and the choice largely depends on personal preference, budget, and beekeeping style. The right excluder for you will ultimately depend on what best suits your individual hive management strategies.

Understanding Queen Behavior

The queen bee is the heart and soul of a honey bee colony. She’s responsible for maintaining the hive’s population by laying thousands of eggs each day – a feat which is nothing short of remarkable.

Role within the Hive

The queen bee’s primary role is reproduction. Upon mating with a handful of drones during her maiden flight, she becomes a factory of sorts, laying up to 2,000 eggs per day at the peak of the season. These fertilized eggs develop into worker bees, which form the majority of the colony’s population. Unfertilized eggs, on the other hand, become drones or male bees, which have the primary role of mating with future queens from other colonies. The queen also has a secondary role as a social glue. She produces pheromones that maintain the unity and cooperation within the hive, ensuring the hive functions as a single superorganism.

Movement and Egg-Laying Habits

The queen bee typically moves throughout the brood chamber, laying eggs in the polished cells prepared by worker bees. She can assess the size of each cell and decides whether to lay a fertilized or unfertilized egg. Her movement isn’t random but determined by the availability of suitable cells for egg laying. It’s not uncommon for the queen to lay eggs in a spiral pattern, starting from the center of the comb, though she will fill any suitable cell she comes across. 

Impact on Hive Productivity and Health

The queen’s efficiency at laying eggs directly impacts the colony’s strength and productivity. A prolific queen helps ensure a steady supply of workers to forage for nectar, pollen, and water, guard the hive, and perform other tasks, which, in turn, influences the colony’s honey production. Additionally, the health of the queen bee is crucial. If the queen is diseased or weak, it will affect her egg-laying capacity, ultimately leading to the decline of the hive. Her genetic qualities also determine the resistance of her progeny to diseases and parasites. As such, beekeepers often replace queens showing signs of decline or poor performance to maintain a healthy and productive hive.

Benefits of Using a Queen Excluder

There are many benefits to using a queen excluder in your beehive. Here are just a few:

• Increased Honey Production: By using a queen excluder, beekeepers can increase the amount of honey that is produced in the hive. Because the queen is not laying eggs in the honey supers, there is more space for worker bees to store honey.
• Reduced Brood in Honey Supers: As mentioned earlier, if the queen lays eggs in the honey supers, they will become filled with brood and honey. This makes it more difficult to harvest clean honey. By using a queen excluder, beekeepers can ensure that there is no brood in the honey supers, making it easier to harvest honey.
• Easier to Harvest Honey: When there is no brood in the honey supers, it is easier to extract clean honey. Additionally, because the queen is not in the honey supers, there is less disturbance to the brood nest, which can reduce stress on the colony.
• Better Hive Management and Disease Control: By using a queen excluder, beekeepers can better manage the hive and control diseases. For example, the queen excluder can be used to confine the queen to the brood box, making it easier to inspect the brood and control diseases.

Potential Drawbacks of Using a Queen Excluder

While queen excluders are an excellent tool for enhancing honey production and hive management, they are not without controversy within the beekeeping community. Some beekeepers have raised concerns that queen excluders can inadvertently create a few problems that may negatively impact the overall health and productivity of the hive.

Inhibition of Worker Bees

Firstly, the queen excluder’s design, while made to prevent the larger queen bee from moving into honey supers, may also inhibit worker bees to some extent. Worker bees, though smaller, have to squeeze through the excluder’s small openings to reach the honey super. This additional effort might slow down the flow of nectar and pollen into the honey super, thereby potentially decreasing the overall efficiency of the hive. Some beekeepers have even suggested that this could lead to a decrease in the lifespan of worker bees due to the added stress.

Decreased Brood Production

Secondly, a concern is that queen excluders might lead to decreased brood production. The queen bee naturally tends to lay eggs in new, uncapped cells, often found in the upper areas of the hive or honey supers. With an excluder in place, the queen’s access to these spaces is restricted, potentially reducing the number of eggs she can lay, and therefore, decreasing the population growth of the hive.

Potential for ‘Honey Bound’ Condition

Lastly, the use of a queen excluder may lead to a condition known as ‘honey bound’. This happens when the worker bees fill the brood box cells with nectar, reducing the available space for the queen to lay eggs. If not managed carefully, this situation can cause a significant decline in brood production and overall hive strength.

While these potential drawbacks need to be taken into consideration, it’s essential to remember that many beekeepers successfully use queen excluders without observing these problems. It may come down to the individual beekeeper’s management practices and the specific conditions of each hive. As always, beekeeping requires careful observation and adaptive management to ensure the health and productivity of your bees.

Alternative Methods to Queen Exclusion

While the queen excluder has been a tried-and-true method for many beekeepers, it’s important to note that there are also alternative strategies to prevent the queen from laying eggs in the honey supers. These methods could be preferred by those who wish to maintain a more “natural” state within the hive, or for beekeepers who find certain challenges with excluders.

Double Queen System

One such method is the double queen system. Here, two queens are kept in separate brood chambers within the same hive. Workers can move freely between the chambers, allowing shared care of brood and collective honey production. The two queens are prevented from meeting (and potentially fighting) by a divider with worker-sized gaps. In this system, each queen perceives her section of the hive as the whole, and hence, tends to stay in her brood chamber, reducing the likelihood of egg laying in the honey supers.

Brood Nest Configuration

Another approach is to manipulate the brood nest configuration. By placing honey supers directly above the brood nest and an empty brood comb or ‘bait’ comb in the lower part of the super, the queen is discouraged from moving into the supers. She perceives the empty comb as the ‘roof’ of her nest, and is less likely to cross it to lay eggs.

Controlled Swarming

Lastly, there’s controlled swarming, an advanced technique primarily aimed at swarm control but which also discourages the queen from moving into the supers. The beekeeper essentially simulates the conditions of a swarm, causing the older queen to stay in a new brood box while a new queen is raised in the old one. As part of this process, the honey supers tend to be kept free from eggs.

While these methods may require more skill and hands-on management compared to using a queen excluder, they provide viable options for those who prefer to take a more hands-on approach to their beekeeping practice. As always, the best method depends on the individual beekeeper’s circumstances, goals, and personal preferences.

How to Install a Queen Excluder

Installing a queen excluder is a simple process, but it’s important to do it correctly to ensure that it works properly. Here are the steps to follow:

Step 1: Choose the Right Time

Installing a queen excluder isn’t a task that should be done haphazardly. Timing is crucial. It’s best to install the excluder in the early springtime when the colony is expanding, and the queen is laying eggs in the brood boxes rather than the honey supers. This is because during this period, most of the bees will be in the brood boxes and the honey supers will be mostly empty.

Step 2: Prepare the Hive

Start by preparing your hive. Ensure your smoker is at hand and puff a little smoke at the entrance of the hive and under the top cover to calm the bees. Remove the hive cover and the inner cover to expose the top of the frames in the top brood box. Always be gentle in your movements to avoid upsetting the bees.

Step 3: Position the Queen Excluder

The queen excluder is a thin, flat device, often made from metal or plastic, designed to fit snugly above the brood boxes and beneath the honey supers. To position it correctly, simply lay it on top of the brood box, aligning it with the top of the frames. It should cover the entire top surface of the brood box, ensuring that no gaps are left around the edges where the queen could possibly pass through.

Step 4: Add the Honey Supers

Once the excluder is in place, add your honey supers back on top of the excluder. This is where the worker bees will store the nectar they collect, turning it into honey over time.

Step 5: Secure the Hive

After the honey supers are back on top, replace the inner cover and the top cover of the hive. Make sure all components are properly aligned, providing a secure and cozy home for your bees.

Step 6: Regular Checks

Installing the queen excluder is not a set-and-forget affair. Regular hive inspections are critical to confirm the queen excluder remains in good condition and correctly positioned, and that the queen is indeed being excluded from the honey supers. This involves lifting the honey supers off and visually inspecting the queen excluder about once every week or two, depending on your local conditions and the behavior of your bees.

By adhering to these steps, you will efficiently install a queen excluder in your beehive. As with any aspect of beekeeping, it requires a balance of care, patience, and keen observation. Remember, the primary aim is to encourage a thriving, productive colony, with the queen in the place where she can best perform her role.

Best Practices for Using a Queen Excluder

To ensure that a queen excluder functions optimally, there are several best practices that beekeepers should keep in mind.

Regular Inspection

First and foremost, regular inspection is key. It’s recommended to check the queen excluder once a week during peak bee season, typically spring and summer. Inspecting the excluder helps verify that it’s still properly aligned and undamaged. Should it be misaligned or damaged, there’s a risk that the queen could find her way into the honey supers, defeating the purpose of the excluder.

Seasonal Considerations

Seasonal considerations also play a crucial role in the effective use of queen excluders. In warmer seasons, the queen and worker bees are most active, making it the perfect time to utilize the queen excluder. However, during winter, the queen excluder should ideally be removed. This is because bees often move towards the upper sections of the hive to access stored honey when lower supplies dwindle in colder temperatures. If the queen is left behind, it could potentially lead to the loss of the queen, which would be catastrophic for the colony.

Hive Population

Another important aspect to consider is the hive population. Ensure your colony has reached a sizable population before installing the queen excluder. A good rule of thumb is to wait until the bees have started to work in the honey supers before putting it in place. An excluder used too early, when the hive population is still low, may discourage worker bees from moving into the supers to store honey.

Cleaning and Maintenance

Lastly, remember that cleaning and maintenance are vital for the queen excluder’s longevity and functionality. Over time, the excluder may become clogged with propolis, a resinous substance bees use to seal gaps in the hive. Therefore, it’s necessary to clean it at least once a year, preferably at the end of the beekeeping season, to ensure it remains in good working condition for the following year.

Adherence to these best practices will increase the effectiveness of a queen excluder, thereby enhancing overall hive health and productivity.

Pros And Cons Of A Queen Excluder – Conclusion

Using a queen excluder in your beehive can provide many benefits for beekeepers. By preventing the queen from laying eggs in the honey supers, beekeepers can increase honey production, make it easier to harvest honey, and better manage the hive. Additionally, by confining the queen to the brood box, beekeepers can better control diseases and inspect the brood. If you haven’t already, consider using a queen excluder in your beehive to see the benefits for yourself.

Beekeeping Disclaimer:

Beekeeping, like any agricultural activity, involves inherent risks. It is important to understand these risks and take appropriate measures to mitigate them.

Potential risks associated with beekeeping include:

1. Bee stings: Honey bees are generally not aggressive but can become defensive if they feel threatened or their hive is disturbed. Bee stings can cause allergic reactions or even anaphylaxis in some individuals, which can be life-threatening. It is important to wear protective clothing and follow best practices when handling bees to minimize the risk of stings.
2. Diseases and pests: Bees can be vulnerable to various diseases and pests, including mites, viruses, and bacterial infections. These can have significant impacts on bee colonies, leading to reduced honey production or even colony collapse. It is important to monitor hives regularly and take appropriate measures to prevent and treat diseases and pests.
3. Weather conditions: Extreme weather conditions, such as drought or cold temperatures, can affect the health and productivity of bee colonies. It is important to ensure that hives are appropriately sheltered and provided with adequate food and water.
4. Environmental hazards: Bees can be affected by environmental hazards such as pesticide exposure, pollution, and habitat loss. It is important to be aware of these hazards and take appropriate measures to protect bee colonies and promote healthy environments for bees.
5. Legal requirements: Beekeeping may be subject to local, state, or national regulations, such as registration or inspection requirements. It is important to be aware of these requirements and comply with them.

While beekeeping can be a rewarding and enjoyable activity, it is important to be aware of the potential risks and take appropriate measures to mitigate them. By following best practices and staying informed about the latest developments in beekeeping, beekeepers can help ensure the health and productivity of their hives and contribute to the well-being of bee populations worldwide.

Last update on 2024-04-25 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API