THOUSAND ANSWERS 81 



Q. Are not queen-excluders a hindrance to bees, or will I have 

 to get some excluders? If so, how many? 



A. While it is generally thought best to use excluders for 

 extracted honey, some do not use them, such prominent men as C. 

 P. Dadant and E. D. Townsend being of the number. The latter 

 says that by giving additional supers always on top he has no 

 need for excluders. If you find it is better to use them, you will 

 need one for each colony. 



Q. Have you tried the new queen and drone-excluders, or 

 honey-boards, made of wire? Have they any claim to be classed 

 as an improvement on the perforated zinc, or is it only a scheme 

 of the manufacturers? 



A. I do not use excluders under supers, so I don't use many 

 excluders, although for some purposes they are indispensable. 

 Having quite a stock of the old kind of excluders on hand, I have 

 never tried the wire excluders. I don't suppose there is a great 

 deal of difference, but one would suppose that the bees would like 

 the smooth wires better than the sharp edge left by the punching 

 of the metal for the perforations. 



The wire excluders also allow better ventilation. 



Q. Can virgin or unfertile queens pais through excluding 

 zinc? 



A. A laying queen looks much larger than a virgin, but it is 

 the abdomen that's larger, not the thorax. It's not the abdomen, 

 but the thorax that prevents a queen going through the zinc, and 

 I think the thorax of a laying queen is no larger than it was 

 when she was a virgin; so she ought to go through no more easily 

 one time than another. But a virgin queen probably makes a 

 more vigorous effort to go through, so she might go through an 

 aperture through which she would not force herself after she 

 settled down as a laying queen. 



Extracted Honey. — Q. I am going to buy five dovetailed 10- 

 frame hives this spring. I only want honey for the house. Which 

 is better for me, the extracting hive or sections? I read in the 

 bee-books the extracting hive is best for home use. Please tell 

 me why. 



A. Extracting saves the bees much labor in building comb, so 

 it is generally estimated that you can get about one-half more ex- 

 tracted honey than comb. So, in deciding the question for your- 

 self, the question is whether you would rather have 100 pounds of 

 comb honey or ISO pounds of extracted. 



Q. Is it advisable to extract honey as soon is it is gathered? 

 Is there any danger of it getting sour? 



