DADANT SYSTEM OF BEEKEEPING 



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Fig. 16. Queen excluders exclude ven- 

 tilation and free access to the supers 



date the average prolific 

 queen. She fills it and 

 tries to go elsewhere. She 

 will naturally go up, since 

 the upper story is always 

 warm. The beekeeper is 

 then forced to use some 

 method that will confine 

 the queen within certain 

 limits. 



In these conditions, the 

 queen-excluder comes into 



good service. It is composed of a frame provided with a sheet of 

 perforated metal, with a bee-space above and below, and placed 

 between the two stories. This perforated metal was, as far as 

 we know, first recommended by a Lorrainer cure, Collin, about 

 the middle of the past century. The perforations are of such 

 size that the worker bees can pass through them, but neither 

 the queen nor the drones can get through, owing to the greater 

 size of their corslet or thorax. 



The first queen-excluders made were objectionable, con- 

 stituting a very serious obstacle to the free passage of the bees 

 and of ventilation. Ventilation is very important, as the bees, 

 in the summer months, are very numerous in the hive. They 

 need pure air as we do, and their great numbers increase the 



temperature of the hive to 

 the danger point, unless 

 they can force air up 

 through the hive and out 

 again, so as to keep the 

 temperature below the dan- 

 ger point, or about blood 

 heat. 



Fig. 17. Modern excluders are better 



than the old, but are still in 



the way of the bees 



Queen-excluders are now 

 made, with wire spacing, 

 which are much less objection- 



