If you're interested in becoming a backyard beekeeper, you'll need to familiarize yourself with the different types of equipment available. While the options may seem endless at first, you'll eventually be able to narrow down your search to find the perfect beekeeping setup for your needs. Some of the most important beekeeping equipment includes lids, hive tools, suits, smokers, and bottom boards. With all of this in mind, it's no wonder that backyard beekeepers need a lot of stuff!
There is a lot of beekeeping equipment on the market, and it can be confusing to know what is necessary and what is not. A basic set of equipment includes a bee suit, gloves, hive tool, smoker, and a feeder. Bee suits and gloves protect the beekeeper from stings. The hive tool is used to open and close the hive, and the smoker is used to calm the bees. The feeder is used to provide the bees with food.
Called honey excluders or queen excluders, excluders are used to restrict the queen to the bottom of the hive, usually one or two hive bodies, called the brood chamber. By doing this, the beekeeper can put frames of honey above the excluder in what is called the supers. The queen cannot lay eggs in the supers, so the honey is not contaminated by brood.
This can be prevented by having an excluder in place so the queen will stay in the brood area and the bees will only be able to pass through into the honey supers. The second reason is for queen rearing. By using an excluder the beekeeper can rear new queens in one area and then move them when they are ready to lay without worrying about them getting lost. The third reason is to prevent swarming. By keeping the queen in the brood area the bees will not have a reason to swarm since they will not be able to make a new queen.A beekeeper might use an excluder for several reasons. The first is to produce honey without having to pull a box of brood. By having an excluder in place, the queen will stay in the brood area and the bees will only be able to pass into the honey supers. The second reason is to rear new queens in one area and then move them when they are ready to lay without worrying about them getting lost. The third reason is to prevent swarming by keeping the queen in the brood area.
The queen excluder is a device used in beekeeping to keep the queen bee from entering the honey supers, or the uppermost part of the beehive where the honey is stored. This is important because if the queen were to enter the honey supers, she would lay eggs there, and the resulting larvae would be much lighter in color than the comb in the honey supers. This is because the larvae would have never had brood, and light colored wax fetches a higher price.
I personally run excluders on my bees as my operation is generally for solely honey production. By running an excluder, it essentially "excludes" the queen from laying eggs in the honey supers, so that come harvest time, all of the combs will be full of honey instead of being mixed with brood. Some folks don't like to use excluders as they can sometimes hinder the queen's movement about the hive, but I have never had any issues with mine.
I'm not sure where this idea comes from, but I don't think there is any evidence to support it. In fact, I would argue that queen excluders can actually lead to swarming. By definition, a queen excluder is a barrier that prevents the queen from getting to the honey supers. This means that the queen is confined to the brood chamber where she can lay eggs. However, the brood chamber can only hold so many bees. Once it becomes full, the bees will start to swarm. So, while queen excluders may help you produce more honey, they can also lead to swarming.
Does the use of an excluder encourage swarming?
They are usually used when the queen is getting old, and the colony is splitting into two. By adding an excluder, it allows the bees to build comb on both sides of the box, but the queen can only lay eggs on one side. This way, you can have a box of honey without having to worry about the queen laying eggs in it.I have found that using an excluder can really help to control the population of a beehive. By only allowing the queen to lay eggs on one side of the box, it helps to keep the colony from growing too large. I think that this is a great way to keep the bees under control, and it can really help to produce a good amount of honey.
A swarm of bees is a sight to behold. While beekeepers try to prevent their hives from swarming, it's not always possible. If a hive does swarm, the beekeeper has lost half their bees and their honey crop for the year.
The brood chamber is the area of the hive where the queen lays her eggs. By increasing the size of the brood chamber, the queen will have more space to lay her eggs and the bees will have more space to move around. This may make the bees feel less congested and help them to thrive.
Is the queen more productive without an excluder?
The queen of a beehive can lay a lot more eggs when she has more space to brood in. This increased population can be a big boost to the hive.
However, if left unchecked, an unchecked colony will eventually exhaust its resources and collapse.
Summarize
Some beekeepers opt to use excluders in order to keep queen bees from laying eggs in worker bee cells. This allows the beekeeper to have greater control over the number of bees in their hive, as well as the ratio of male to female bees. Other beekeepers choose not to use excluders, as they believe it is natural for the queen to lay eggs in worker cells. There is no right or wrong answer when it comes to using excluders - it is entirely up to the needs and preferences of the beekeeper.
A backyard beekeeper with a couple hives in the backyard may want to use excluders to make finding the queen easier but a commercial beekeeper who works almost solely in pollination rather than honey production may not want the hassle and expense of excluders. Commercial beekeepers are more likely to work with many hives at once and may find that the excluders add an extra step that isn't necessary.
