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Queen Excluder becomes a Mouse Excluder

When the honey supers come off it is a simple matter to swap a framed excluder from above the brood to between the floor and the bottom of the brood box. This is both a convenient place to store it and it acts as a mouse barrier. I used to do this regularly, but since I have found out that there are many more drones during the winter than most beekeeping texts state, I do not wish to trap them inside the hive. The queen excluders that have been stored in this fashion have been cleaned of wax by rodent jaws, which I used to consider a benefit, but all in all I now reckon it is 'bad practice' to perform this manipulation.

Some have suggested that this can be used during the swarming season to stop a swarming queen from leaving. I feel there are several objections to this... First drones become trapped and die in the excluder... After the initial attempt fails the bees may still leave in a few days when the first virgin emerges, as it may be possible for her to squeeze through where a more mature queen could not.

It has also been suggested that this method can stop a freshly hived swarm from absconding. This may well be true, but I would want the know "why" the bees did not think it a suitable home rather than forcing them to accept my choice.

Written... 2000, Upgraded... 23 December 2005,