In this video I talk about queen excluders and speak about my experience with them. #beekeeping #beekeeper #bees Get queens and more at www.bkbees.com Need a website? www.bkbeesites.com
FYI once set next to a really strong hive a bottom board, placed a new hive body with frames put a queen excluder on it then stacked the old hive on top of it.April June when I took the honey off all ten large frames was loaded with new comb and honey. Three days later after extraction i put that hive body on top of the old one with out the queen excluder additionally one of two supers I had taken off for extracting. July I split the hives balanced the resources made sure that both had brood and eggs. I would do it again except for the weight.
Great video on the queen excluder! I think you covered a lot of the important points for new beekeepers. Excluders can be used for a myriad of bee management processes.
Yeah, I thought about talking a bit about the other uses, like for the bottoms of a freshly caught super, or shaking bees for a cell starter, or putting them below cell builders, but I figured I'd just stick to the basics. Thank you for the kind comment, Doug!
@@BKBees I think it was perfect for an intro to this piece of equipment. All of those things are kind of more advanced uses. Your welcome and keep up the great work!
Hey Brett...I agree completely with your presentation in Queen excluders...one point you made...about an upper entrance on your boxes...I ...for some reason have a bit of trouble making just a hole in your upper honey boxes...is there a preferred opening...and place..on the box for these upper openings...seems detrimental to the box...and that problems will ensue from it...could you share a small video on this subject....
Contrarian here I use a wood framed wire excluder on every hive above the first super. When I have a new hive that needs more bee space I'll use the same queen exclude a put a super on top this keeps the queen in the bottom so that hive body gets drawn out.
Thanks for sharing! Could you share how you manage the single brood box sometime? Or if you have done a vlog already let me know and I'll look for it. Thanks it again! Keep em coming!
if you have an upper entrance should you have it facing a different direction? Will that aide in keeping vigins on mating flight out or will this be more difficult for foragers? Also what type of upper entrance do you recommend? Thanks!
It might screw up a returning virgin's attempt at coming in the upper entrance, so for that I don't have a problem with the upper entrance facing a different direction. Generally, though, it faces the same direction. No matter what configuration of entrances, the bees will figure it out just fine.
That greatly depends on the time of year and the strength of the hive, but during a honey flow a strong hive can fill and cap a super in 10 days or so.
Your videos are wonderful and informative!! However just to get the terms consistent, a “super” refers to any box that is above the brood nest, regardless of the size....as in the definition of the word or prefix ‘super-“ --> a prefix occurring originally in loanwords from Latin, with the basic meaning “above, beyond.” Words formed with super- have the following general senses: “to place or be placed above or over” ( superimpose; supersede ), “a thing placed over or added to another” ( superscript; superstructure; supertax ), “situated over” ...
Thanks. I agree, but if you're looking at a jumble of bee equipment and ask any beekeeper to pick out the supers, they're going to find the shallow boxes.
B&K Bees - True! I think most beekeepers use the medium and shallow boxes as “honey boxes” for weight considerations, thus the term supers has, in most people’s mind, referred only to these sizes. There’s a lot of economy in keeping all hive boxes of the same size, and I’ve noticed many beekeepers are using only medium boxes for their brood and supers. I can certainly see the benefit in that!
Brett, while we're discussing Queen excluders, can we get an ESTIMATED time of when you're hygienic Queens will be available. Been waiting to hear from Katie or you. And yes we did fill the form out last fall. Thanks bro!
I have become a bit disabled from lung problems. To prevent carrying heavy honey supers I was thinking about buying one of the flow hive supers to go on the top of the hives. I will need a queen restrictor so that the queen will not be able to make a mess in the flow hive’s honey super. Now to my question; there are several different types of restrictors on the market. Would a cheap plastic be sufficient or will a metal or a framed metal work better? The last two mentioned are more expensive. Should I go cheap or get one of the expensive ones?Thank You, Rodney K PS : I watch all of your videos, even though I don’t have a beard. I am still a bee-people.
Thank you for this video. Queen Excluders are questionable. I do know from personal use, they limit the amount of bees that will go through them, thus limit honey production. And I'm now hearing from several trusted beekeepers that say they can and do over time, damage bees wings. But I agree with you, if you have an upper entrance bees usually will use that that would not pass through an excluder. And I also agree with you if your going to use them, the metal, laser-cut queen excluders are the only way to go. Great video
@@BKBees Yet i heard of a beekeeper doing an experiment with them that i am going to try next year. When he added his first honey super, he left off the queen excluder for a month or less, to let the bees start building wax and working on them, then he went through them, made sure the queen was not up in the super, then THEN added the queen excluder. It might bee the a large portion of bee won't cross through them because they don't know another box or more space has bee added. Once they know there is honey to work on, they are then more likely to pass thru them. Well, this is the experiment that I plan on trying.
The people who have trouble getting bees to work above an excluder need to see this: First give up on "Virgin supers" that are unbrooded. Place a "super" on the hive, let it get laid with eggs and brood, remove, inspect, find queen, put her in bottom box, place excluder on then replace the broody super. The bees hatch out and the super gets filled with honey. THAT is how it's done.
When I have to use virgin foundation I usually put it on without an excluder ~two weeks then I inspect make sure the queen is in the bottom before I install the excluder. When i have extra frams of drawn comb even a frame of honey i put the excluder on it seems to stimulate the super without messing with the queen.
Aaron, man I wish the natural could have stayed, I really do. When I fell in love with beekeeping it transformed my life and I knew if I was going to be truly happy I needed to be a beekeeper, full time. So, over the last few years I've had to change my mindset, so that I can keep healthy bees that stay alive and allow for me to supply a product. But, and I want to stress that this is the #1 goal of my whole operation, I breed queens to survive. Not only in the cold but with the varroa mites as well. So, yes, I treat my bees when they go over threshold, and I feed them supplements to get them to build up quicker, but I select for mite resistance and survival traits that I truly hope and think is making the natural beekeeping endeavor easier for my customers. What I mean by all this is, my deviation from "natural" is entirely an effort to be able to provide more survivors to the bunches of beekeepers that come to us for queens and advice. I was going to make a video on this, an explanation to you, but I wasn't sure if you'd watch. You've been around since the conception and it saddened me when I thought you left us, because, as I said, I liked the natural way of things too.
@@BKBees Thanks. I disagree with the approach but I really give you credit for accepting people that may disagree. Most TH-camrs would just say if you don't like what I'm doing, FU. Kirk Webster and others have done it. Maybe you will be able to as well. I just can't bring myself to treat. But I'm not trying to make a living off bees either. So I'll keep watching when the topics interest me. I have learned some things from your videos so thanks.
FYI once set next to a really strong hive a bottom board, placed a new hive body with frames put a queen excluder on it then stacked the old hive on top of it.April
June when I took the honey off all ten large frames was loaded with new comb and honey.
Three days later after extraction i put that hive body on top of the old one with out the queen excluder additionally one of two supers I had taken off for extracting.
July I split the hives balanced the resources made sure that both had brood and eggs.
I would do it again except for the weight.
Great video on the queen excluder! I think you covered a lot of the important points for new beekeepers. Excluders can be used for a myriad of bee management processes.
Yeah, I thought about talking a bit about the other uses, like for the bottoms of a freshly caught super, or shaking bees for a cell starter, or putting them below cell builders, but I figured I'd just stick to the basics. Thank you for the kind comment, Doug!
@@BKBees I think it was perfect for an intro to this piece of equipment. All of those things are kind of more advanced uses. Your welcome and keep up the great work!
Hey Brett...I agree completely with your presentation in Queen excluders...one point you made...about an upper entrance on your boxes...I ...for some reason have a bit of trouble making just a hole in your upper honey boxes...is there a preferred opening...and place..on the box for these upper openings...seems detrimental to the box...and that problems will ensue from it...could you share a small video on this subject....
You can get a shim, or an inner cover with an upper entrance. I don't have any intentional holes in my boxes.
I had no honey stored till i took the excluder off then they went nuts last year
Contrarian here I use a wood framed wire excluder on every hive above the first super.
When I have a new hive that needs more bee space I'll use the same queen exclude a put a super on top this keeps the queen in the bottom so that hive body gets drawn out.
Thanks for sharing! Could you share how you manage the single brood box sometime? Or if you have done a vlog already let me know and I'll look for it. Thanks it again! Keep em coming!
Yeah I plan to talk on singles a bunch more. I haven't made any videos on that specifically, yet.
Hello. Is there any difference in plastic and metallic queen excluders? Does the swarm "works" better with one of them? Thanks
if you have an upper entrance should you have it facing a different direction? Will that aide in keeping vigins on mating flight out or will this be more difficult for foragers? Also what type of upper entrance do you recommend? Thanks!
It might screw up a returning virgin's attempt at coming in the upper entrance, so for that I don't have a problem with the upper entrance facing a different direction. Generally, though, it faces the same direction. No matter what configuration of entrances, the bees will figure it out just fine.
How long does a honey super with foundation or foundation less frames take to be fully capped
That greatly depends on the time of year and the strength of the hive, but during a honey flow a strong hive can fill and cap a super in 10 days or so.
Your videos are wonderful and informative!! However just to get the terms consistent, a “super” refers to any box that is above the brood nest, regardless of the size....as in the definition of the word or prefix ‘super-“
--> a prefix occurring originally in loanwords from Latin, with the basic meaning “above, beyond.” Words formed with super- have the following general senses: “to place or be placed above or over” ( superimpose; supersede ), “a thing placed over or added to another” ( superscript; superstructure; supertax ), “situated over” ...
Thanks. I agree, but if you're looking at a jumble of bee equipment and ask any beekeeper to pick out the supers, they're going to find the shallow boxes.
B&K Bees - True! I think most beekeepers use the medium and shallow boxes as “honey boxes” for weight considerations, thus the term supers has, in most people’s mind, referred only to these sizes. There’s a lot of economy in keeping all hive boxes of the same size, and I’ve noticed many beekeepers are using only medium boxes for their brood and supers. I can certainly see the benefit in that!
Brett, while we're discussing Queen excluders, can we get an ESTIMATED time of when you're hygienic Queens will be available. Been waiting to hear from Katie or you. And yes we did fill the form out last fall. Thanks bro!
We're looking to start shipping queens either the last few days of May or the first week in June.
I have become a bit disabled from lung problems. To prevent carrying heavy honey supers I was thinking about buying one of the flow hive supers to go on the top of the hives. I will need a queen restrictor so that the queen will not be able to make a mess in the flow hive’s honey super. Now to my question; there are several different types of restrictors on the market. Would a cheap plastic be sufficient or will a metal or a framed metal work better? The last two mentioned are more expensive. Should I go cheap or get one of the expensive ones?Thank You, Rodney K
PS : I watch all of your videos, even though I don’t have a beard. I am still a bee-people.
Cheap ones are horrible. Get something rigid like a metal or wood bound excluder.
B&K Bees Thank You That is what I thought.
Great tutorial!
Nice one..
Can you use a bee escape on top of the excluder
No, in the past when I've used triangular escape boards I've removed the excluder.
Cool thank you.
Thank you for this video. Queen Excluders are questionable. I do know from personal use, they limit the amount of bees that will go through them, thus limit honey production. And I'm now hearing from several trusted beekeepers that say they can and do over time, damage bees wings. But I agree with you, if you have an upper entrance bees usually will use that that would not pass through an excluder. And I also agree with you if your going to use them, the metal, laser-cut queen excluders are the only way to go.
Great video
Yeah there are downsides to pretty much any beekeeping convenience. If I was running less than 40 or 50 hives I don't think I'd use excluders at all.
@@BKBees Yet i heard of a beekeeper doing an experiment with them that i am going to try next year. When he added his first honey super, he left off the queen excluder for a month or less, to let the bees start building wax and working on them, then he went through them, made sure the queen was not up in the super, then THEN added the queen excluder. It might bee the a large portion of bee won't cross through them because they don't know another box or more space has bee added. Once they know there is honey to work on, they are then more likely to pass thru them. Well, this is the experiment that I plan on trying.
nice content
Amateurish? I thought you were going for effect. Looked cool!
lol I'm happy about that.
The people who have trouble getting bees to work above an excluder need to see this:
First give up on "Virgin supers" that are unbrooded. Place a "super" on the hive, let it get laid with eggs and brood, remove, inspect, find queen, put her in bottom box, place excluder on then replace the broody super. The bees hatch out and the super gets filled with honey. THAT is how it's done.
That's a lot of extra work but a good method. Thanks.
When I have to use virgin foundation I usually put it on without an excluder ~two weeks then I inspect make sure the queen is in the bottom before I install the excluder.
When i have extra frams of drawn comb even a frame of honey i put the excluder on it seems to stimulate the super without messing with the queen.
Your camera work is always terrible so why apologize?
Ha! lol this made me laugh.
Glad to see you're (presumably) still with us.
@@BKBees
I watch from time to time. But I prefer the old natural B & K bees. Sorry about the package disaster. That had to be heart breaking.
Aaron, man I wish the natural could have stayed, I really do. When I fell in love with beekeeping it transformed my life and I knew if I was going to be truly happy I needed to be a beekeeper, full time. So, over the last few years I've had to change my mindset, so that I can keep healthy bees that stay alive and allow for me to supply a product. But, and I want to stress that this is the #1 goal of my whole operation, I breed queens to survive. Not only in the cold but with the varroa mites as well. So, yes, I treat my bees when they go over threshold, and I feed them supplements to get them to build up quicker, but I select for mite resistance and survival traits that I truly hope and think is making the natural beekeeping endeavor easier for my customers. What I mean by all this is, my deviation from "natural" is entirely an effort to be able to provide more survivors to the bunches of beekeepers that come to us for queens and advice.
I was going to make a video on this, an explanation to you, but I wasn't sure if you'd watch. You've been around since the conception and it saddened me when I thought you left us, because, as I said, I liked the natural way of things too.
@@BKBees
Thanks. I disagree with the approach but I really give you credit for accepting people that may disagree. Most TH-camrs would just say if you don't like what I'm doing, FU. Kirk Webster and others have done it. Maybe you will be able to as well. I just can't bring myself to treat. But I'm not trying to make a living off bees either. So I'll keep watching when the topics interest me. I have learned some things from your videos so thanks.
Sorry but you don't know much about excluders.
lol, thanks for the helpful comment.