I am going to be using my flow super for the first time this spring. I see many folks report trouble getting bees to drawn it out and use it, so am researching ways to stop that. I have waxed the frames to get them ready.
I was wondering if anyone has tried not using the queen excluder just until the bees move up into the box and start working it? I know there is a risk of the queen laying up there, but once it starts being used, I can shake all the bees down in the lower box and put the excluder back between them. Thoughts?
I really, really wouldnât put the super on without the queen excluder. Too much risk of a mess.Once the queen lays drones in the Flow super, you will have cocoons and an unreliable flow drainage. Donât do it is my advice.
There are several threads on this subject and there are some videos on YouTube with Cedar discussing it - it can be done but as some have mentioned - having adequate space for egg laying (including drone cells and/or natural drawn comb) in the single deep brood box can help but using a âhoney bridgeâ or a second brood box seems to be more effective.
But as @Dawn_SD explains, not worth the risk to the flow frames, unless you are a master at cleaning them!
Once the queen gets up there itâs a mess and it takes more than 21 days to resolve without killing baby bees. I too wondered about the queen excluder but after watching videos from once anti queen excluder proponents Iâm taking the easier softer method of using it. I need one less bee mess to deal with because my fight is with hive beetles and other varmints, parasites, robber bees, ants, wasps and wax moth insects and a opossum.
