Dec. 1, 1911 



®®m\y(B[P©siGBco)[]D© ^^uillh [EcdcdDdIiIID 



At Borodino, New York 



SHALL. WE USE QUEEN-EXCLUDERS? 



"One of my bee-keeping neighbors told 

 me that he considers queen-excluders of no 

 value, as they shut the bees out from the 

 upper story, to an extent which diminishes 

 the crop of honey. What do you advise 

 on this point ? " 



"I have used the queen-excluding metal 

 for years. When it first came into use, 

 most bee-keepers believed in having all the 

 open space possible between the brood-nest 

 and the supers above. For this purpose 

 many of the boxes which were used before 

 sections came were without bottoms save a 

 small stick or two to hold the sides in place, 

 while many sections were made in a similar 

 way, so that the bees could have free access 

 to the honey-receptacles, for in this way 

 only could the best results be obtained. 

 Soon after came the idea of a small brood- 

 chamber — one of a si/^e suitable for the 

 needs of the brood, thus leaving room for 

 all of the surplus white honey in the sec- 

 tions, while the brood, being less late in 

 the season, the dark or fall honey could be 

 stored in this brood-chamber for the winter- 

 ing of the colony. This idea sprea 1 like 

 wild fire, inasmuch as this white honey 

 brought from five to eight cents more per 

 pound in market than the dark. But with 

 these contracted brood-chambers, much pol- 

 len and considerable brood went into the 

 sections, damaging them for market to an 

 extent that would make a loss greater than 

 would result from a smaller yield of white 

 honey caused through using a brood-cham- 

 ber large enough to accommodate the brood, 

 pollen, and some honey. 



"About this time the queen-excluding 

 zinc was introduced. Some went wild over 

 it; others were opposed to it, especially 

 those who had left the bottoms o(T their 

 surplus boxes so that the bees could have 

 free access to the supers. As I was one of 

 small brood-chamber users, I procured some 

 queen-excluders, using these on ten colo- 

 nies of as nearly equal strength and ability 

 as were ten other colonies that were worked 

 as before. At the close of the season I had 

 as many completed sections from colonies 

 when queen-excluders had been used as 

 from those not having them, while all of 

 the sections were without either brood or 

 pollen, and almost without travel-stain, so 

 that the next year found me using exclu- 

 ders with fully half of my colonif s. In this 

 way I kept on until I was convinced that 

 the claim of less honey through the use of 

 queen-excluders was a fallacy. 



"When I came to work for extracted 

 honey, I again went through with the same 

 experiments to find out what would be the 

 results of their use as to the yield. For ex- 

 ample, several strong colonies were taken. 

 Some were worked without and others with 

 an excluder. At the commencement of 

 fruit-bloom both needed an upper story. 



Those without the excluder allowed the 

 queen to go where she pleased, which was 

 usually into the comb of the upper story, 

 resulting in more or less brood in them. 

 But when it came to a close examination 

 and comparison, it was very seldom that I 

 found more brood in both of these stories 

 before the harvest from white clover was on 

 than the lower one would hold, especially 

 in case of a ten-frame Langstroth hive. 

 And this brood, which would easily go into 

 one hive, was scattered all through the 

 combs of the two. With the white-clover 

 flow, the bees soon needed more room; and 

 as there was nothing in ei'her otory in suit- 

 able shajie to extract, there was nothing to 

 do but add another story. Five times out 

 of Six the queen would go into this third 

 division with her eggs, rather than keep her 

 brood-nest down in the first, where it was 

 before any supers were put on. As three 

 stories is about as high as it is safe to go 

 with hives in this locality on account of our 

 high winds during sudden storms, it is nec- 

 essary to begin to extract soon if the flow 

 keei^s up, as the hives are boiling over with 

 bees — old, young bees, drones, and a queen, 

 with pollen and honey mixed with brood in 

 all stages. So if we don't extract from 

 frames having brootl in them we do not get 

 much honey; and if we do so extract there 

 will be more or less larva^ thrown out with 

 the honey, go as careful as we may. 



Now let us take the colony which had the 

 excluder. When the bees need more room 

 we put the hive having the combs to re- 

 ceive the surplus honey over the excluder, 

 and know that the queen is and will stay 

 where she belongs — in the brood-nest. The 

 bees commence to store honey in the upper 

 story as soon as any comes in from the 

 fields, while the queen si)reads her brood 

 clear to the corners of the frames in the 

 lower hive. When the harvest from clover 

 comes on, we put another under the first 

 one; and by the time the colony needs more 

 room, the combs in the first super will be 

 filled and sealed nearly solid with beautiful 

 white honey, without a cell of brood when 

 the time comes for extracting. 



"The second super is now raised, if there is 

 promise of a further yield of nectar, and an- 

 other filled with emp y combs is put under- 

 neath. If there is danger that the harvest 

 may not continue much longer, it is better 

 to put this last super on top. Thus it con- 

 tinues to the end of the season, and it is 

 fun to extract these full combs freed from 

 bees by a bee-escape. By the old way each 

 conlb had to be handled separately to brush 

 the bees oiT; for bees having brood will not 

 go from that brood down through a bee- 

 escajje. For fifteen years I have not worked 

 a colony for extracted honey without the 

 use of a queen-excluder ; and I use them 

 when working for section honey, in every 

 place where I think they are needed." 



