When to add the queen excluder

Beekeeping - Basics
1

I have read that when putting a conventional honey super on it it a good idea to let leave the queen excluder off for a few days to encourage the bees to draw comb. Do Flow Hive users recommend the same for the flow frames or should I put the excluder on from the start?

Tx
Pat

2

I did not, the girls went right up there and started filling in the cracks. several others are reporting the same

3

Hi Pat,
Beekeepers have very different views on to-queen-exclude or not-to-queen-exclude. I personally have not had any issues with bees going up to the supers or flow or seen any hindrance to the bees using queen excluders. I do however follow a couple of simple beekeeping rules:

  • adding a super only when the bees are full to the brim in the brood chamber
  • adding a super when bees begin building comb on top of frames in the brood (or super) or on the roof
  • add a super when there is a major honey flow is about to begin
4

should i add the excluder when i add all from the nuc? the girls will have access 2 the inner cover 4 some sugar water. the super won’t B added for a while.

5

No. Only when you add the super. Good question, though! :wink:

6

thank you mam. :mask: :roll_eyes: [to short, not enough characters again]