Flow hive and queen excluders🐝

Not sure that I agree with that. My metal queen excluders (QX) are rounded metal rods. Plastic QX often have some sharp edges. Any of our synthetic materials are probably abrasive to chitin and bee bodies, but I would prefer rounded surfaces to sharp straight edges… :wink:

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Hi @chau06, yes it has to do with being able to peel the queen excluder up gently, we find that having that flexibility makes it easier to peel off without disturbing the bees - but it’s totally down to personal preference, I know there are many beekeepers here who prefer the metal. I’ll find you the link to Cedar’s fuller response on this too…

@chau06

Hi Alok

Here is a copy of the response on these:

Hi all,

Thank you for your suggestions.

Your feedback in relation to the queen excluders has been well heard by Cedar and the team here at Flow. We really appreciate how passionate you all are in educating others and finding the best solutions for problems that other beekeepers are experiencing.

There are always strongly held differences of opinion when it comes to beekeeping, and this is certainly a prime example of that.

Flow is incredibly responsive to customer feedback and we always appreciate hearing your suggestions. Along with our own experience of using the Flow Hives over some years, customer feedback played a crucial part in informing the improvements we decided to make when we released the Flow Hive 2.

Part of these improvements was to replace the original white queen excluder which was included with our Classic hives, with a new UV resistant black one. This is the model which is currently being included with our newly produced hives and the feedback we have been receiving on this change has been positive.

Given there are clearly some strong feelings on the issue of queen excluders, I asked for Cedar to clarify his preference for plastic excluders and he advised me that he could see many pros and cons for each type.

The two main reasons that he prefers to use plastic are that in the past he has encountered issues with ants nesting in the folded edges of metal excluders, and he has also found that plastic QE’s can be peeled up slowly and gently which suits his beekeeping methods. These are of course his preferences based on personal experience, however, he is in no way against metal excluders and can see many benefits in their use.

Based on your feedback he is really keen to add creating a new metal queen excluder design without the ant home on the edge to his list of future improvements. Please understand though, there it may be some time before this change is implemented.

In the meantime, there are a number of other sources you can obtain these from if you have your heart set on one.

We appreciate your passion for perfecting the design of the hives. We understand that it is probably not possible to create a hive that is perfect for everyone, but are humbled by how well our hives have been received on the whole and committed to making small improvements where we can.

If you need any further information on this, please let me know.

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Great responses to the post.
I use metal QXs to replace the warped and brittle plastic QXs.
No problem.
A mate of mine had a queen, or perhaps a laying worker after swarming, lay drone brood in the flow frames. The clean up took him a time.
Don’t let it happen.
Sure, 2 ideals above the brood below the flow super could work, but not safe enough.

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@Webclan, sorry if this question sounds dumb as. What are ideals (eg “sure, 2 ideals above the brood below the super could work, but not safe enough”).
Also you said that you replaced the plastic QX with steel ones. Was the plastic QX one of the older white ones, or one of the new UV resistant QXs? As I have the new FH2, with the new black UV resistant QX.

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@Dawn_SD do you know if the steel QX that you have, is sold in Australia? If not, do you know of any sellers of them whom I could mail order one of them from? I have until about August to get it by, so there is no big rush.
Cheers

You get the steel one in Oz. No probs. But your plastic one will be fine for now.

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I do not, I am afraid. However, as @Webclan says, there plenty of suppliers of metal QXs in Australia, you just need to ask a local supplier. :wink:

@Webclan thank you for your reply. Are the steel QX in Australia the same as the ones that @Dawn_SD uses???
Yeah I won’t need one for a bit yet, as I was late getting my FH2 setup, and nuc purchased, so I’m not going to add the flow box this honey season, but I might add a super shortly less 2 frames, and 2 sugar syrup feeders in their place, to ensure that the hive is strong for the coming winter. Then hope that next spring will be a good one for our first honey harvest, so disappointed that I missed this season, as it was a good one.

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Hi B-bees,
The steel QX’s are widely available in Australia and have the rounded metal rods. All suppliers will have them. Also, an ideal is about half the size (height) of a deep brood box. Have a look on a beekeeping suppliers website for images. They are often used as honey supers for people who don’t want to lift heavy deep boxes full of honey.

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@Dawn_SD, @Webclan, and @Outbeck, thank you for the helpful info. I have indeed found a seller of the round metal QX’s, paid for 1, and it’s on it’s way. I’m seriously considering putting a second box on, as I think that the bees have the brood box pretty well full, I will know for sure when I take the big leap into the unknown and do my first solo inspection of the BB on a good weather day tomorrow or on Friday, as the guy whom I bought my nuc from, can’t get here for another week, and I don’t want to leave it that long to find out if the bees need more room, but too late in the season for the flow hive to be put on.
Gee gays (and gals) I am learning so much here on these flow hive forums, thanks so much, as I’d be TOTALLY lost if you lot were not here for those like me to turn to.:heart::heart::heart:

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