THE BEE-KEEPERS' REVIEW 



i6r 



A}j;ain, siipposiiij^ the order is filled by 

 return mail, the ([ueeii may be dead 

 when she is received. Wait until you 

 have the new queen salVl} in hand before 

 removing the ohl queen. 



A NOVEL OUEKN EXCLIDEK. 



One ili.it Ke(|iiires Only a i.ittie Metal, and 

 May he Lscii in Conncclion W'itli 

 a Bee- Escape. 



The most of our queen-excluding honey- 

 boards are full sheets of metal, or else 

 consist of strips of metal between strips 

 of wood. There is a great deal of talk 

 about the necessity of free communica- 

 tion between the brood-nest and super. 

 It is possible that the bees will begin 

 work sooner with openings directly over 

 the brood, but in the warm weather, dur- 

 ing the rush of the lione3--harvest, I think 

 it makes little difference. How many 

 times some of us supposed that we had 

 the bees shut out of some part of the 

 hive, only to discover, later, that they 

 had found a little crack, and entered the 

 shut-off part and filled it with honey. 

 Mr. Ileddon used to assert that one row 

 of openings in a queen-excluding honey- 

 board was sufficient. The American Bee 

 Journal has a correspondent calling him- 

 self "Old Grimes," who holds somewhat 

 similar views, and has worked them out 

 into practical shape, making a honey- 

 board that can be queen-discouraging, or 

 queen-excluding, or used as an escape- 

 board. Here is what he has to say of the 

 queen-excluding honey -board: — 



This very convenient implement for the 

 bee-keeper has received its due share of 

 praise and blame, and of course with 

 those who praise it the excluder has come 

 to stay. Perforated metal, when first in- 

 troduced, was chiefly reconnnended for 

 entrance-guards, and the .\lley drone- 

 trap was constructed chiefly of this metal. 

 When first introduced a large number of 

 the latter were sold, from the fact that 

 they were a new thing, and something of 

 a novelty, but we guarantee that not one 

 in ten of those purchased is in use, and 



the mo'it of them will be found in the 

 pile of "has beeMis," and it is so to a con- 

 siderable extent with the entrance-guards. 



In the Grimes apiaries we use queen- 

 excluding honey-boards, but use a small 

 amount of perforated metal; it is economy 

 to use less material, and noi ol)struclive 

 to ilie bees. .As ordinarily u.sed the per- 

 forated metal is placed upon the hive in 

 .sheets, or it is made into a wood-slatted 

 honev-board, and there is no way for the 

 bees to pass except through the perfora- 

 tion. 



As previously stated, we use a lo-frame 

 hive, and we make a frame for our honey- 

 board just as though we were going to 

 use the slats and strip of zinc, but instead 

 we insert a thin board the whole size of 

 the top of the hive excepting a three- 

 eighth inch space on each side. This 

 space allows the bees free communication 

 from brood-chamber to super, but it 

 is along the outside of the outside combs. 

 The queen scarcely ever visits the outside 

 of the last comb in a lo-frame hive, and 

 the chances for her to get above through 

 the openings are small — in fact, we have 

 had small queens get above even when 

 perforated metal was used. 



In the box-hive davs the bees would 

 work quite as well in the supers, and 

 have access through only two or three 

 auger-holes, and in recent davs some 

 have recommended honey-boards with 

 only one row of perforated metal. Now, 

 whv have anv perforations if the bees 

 work as well, or even better, and the 

 queen stays where we want her? 



There are times, though, when we de- 

 sire the metal, and a good share of our 

 boards are pre])ared with a simple device 

 whereby a perforated strip of metal can 

 be attached over the spaces. This is 

 used when we desire to rear a queen in 

 the upper portion of the hive, and is not 

 intended to prevent the old queen from 

 coming up, but to prevent the young 

 queen from getting down. We also use 

 the metal upon our excluder when we 

 first hive a new swarm and wish to keep 

 the queen from getting into the .sections, 

 but in this case the use is only tempor- 

 ary, or until the brood-nest is established 

 in the proper place, and then it is 

 removed. 



When working for extracted honey the 

 excluder is used for a considerable period, 

 for it enables the bee-keeper to secure 

 combs solidly filled with honey, instead 

 of half honey and half brood. In an 

 ordinary season all of this brood in the 

 super would hatch, or the j-oung bees 

 would become mature too late to gather 

 honey, and they become consumers, as 



