A Queen Excluder is used to keep the queen from laying eggs in the honey supers. The excluder works due to the queen being larger than a normal worker bee and not pass through the slots in the wire.
It is normally only used during the honey season (spring/summer) and should be removed during the autumn and winter months so the bees are able to group together to keep warm.
What is a queen excluder and when should I use one?
A queen excluder is a grid, which can be metal, plastic, or even bamboo. It has bars or holes in it
which allows the worker bees to move through it but does not allow the queen to pass through due
to her larger body size. Thus, the queen is unable to get onto the honey frames and lay her eggs
there, which means you can safely extract honey from those frames, without being concerned that
there could be a brood on them.
The queen excluder should be placed between the brood box and the honey super.
In Autumn some beekeepers remove the queen excluder to enable the bees to form a clump,
unhindered during winter so that the bees can move to the warmest part of the hive.
The queen excluder can then be replaced on the hive during a fine day in spring, making sure that
the queen and any brood are below the queen excluder. This could mean reversing the hive boxes
because the queen and workers have migrated to the top box which is warmer. An inspection will
quickly show where the queen is.
If you do happen to trap the queen above the excluder this is not a problem because when you do
your next inspection you will find the queen and brood on one or two of the frames, the queen and
these frames can then be moved below the excluder.
We have a range of excluders in stock, which are either metal or plastic.
Plastic excluders are cheaper but more difficult to clean, some beekeepers claim that these damage
the bees’ wings.
Metal excluders are either galvanized steel or stainless steel, these are more hardwearing and easier
to clean. Metal excluders are more expensive but more cost effective in the long run
Size:
stainless Steel 510mm x 370mm 8/16 Frames
Stainless Steel 510 mm x 410 mm 10/20 Frames
