Queen excluders are a common beekeeping tool used to manage where the queen bee can lay her eggs within the hive. By placing a queen excluder between the brood box and the honey supers, beekeepers can prevent the queen from entering the upper boxes, keeping brood out of the honey harvest. While some beekeepers swear by their effectiveness, others argue that queen excluders can disrupt the natural flow of the hive.
So, are queen excluders right for your apiary? Here’s what you need to know.
What Is a Queen Excluder?
When you pull out a beeframe to use for honey harvesting, you prefer those perfectly formed, wall-to-wall frames filled with glorious capped honey. These are the frames that are easy to place in an extractor, or for cutting comb away under the crush-and-strain method.
But things become more complicated when there are eggs, larvae, pupae, and queen cells scattered among your honey! One remedy is to utilize a queen excluder. This is a very simple tool—just a metal or plastic screen that is placed above the brood boxes and below the honey supers. A queen excluder makes use of the different anatomy of a queen bee and a worker bee. The holes in the excluder are sized and shaped with such dimensions that worker bees are able to traverse the excluder, but the queen cannot fit through. As a result, only honey is stored above, while the queen is restricted to laying brood only in the lower boxes.
How a Queen Excluder Works in a Langstroth Hive
In a classic Langstroth beehive, the queen is permitted to travel anywhere she wants to throughout the hive. As she travels unrestricted, she naturally lays eggs in any available cell she has a mind to, in any hive box, high or low. Some queens may tend to lay eggs in the lower sections of the hive, and these boxes are often referred to as “brood boxes”—since that’s where the larvae are raised. The upper portions of the hive are called “supers” or “honey supers” since they’re higher up in the “superstructure.” A lot of beekeepers use smaller boxes up there to keep the weight of all that honey manageable.
But since the queen isn’t restricted in where she may go, she might very well lay eggs—and the colony will subsequently raise larvae—in the supers. She might place a good number of eggs in the brood boxes where they belong, but a portion of her eggs might be up in the supers.
This doesn’t really matter to the bees—they’ll continue to happily store honey and pollen around the eggs. But it might matter to you when it comes time to harvest honey.
Benefits of Using a Queen Excluder
With honey frames that are kept “clean” and easier for harvesting by using a queen excluder, you’ll also likely find fewer worker bees up in the supers when you’re ready to harvest, since they tend to follow where the queen is. And during hive inspections, it’s handy to know that the queen is guaranteed to be down in the lower boxes.
Cleaner honey frames: Prevents eggs, larvae, and pupae from being laid in honey supers, resulting in capped honey that’s easier to extract.
Simplifies hive inspections: Ensures the queen remains in the lower box, making her easier to locate.
Less bee activity in supers: Fewer bees in the honey section during harvest, making the process quicker and less disruptive.
Potential Drawbacks of Queen Excluders
There are a couple of downsides to using a queen excluder.
- Worker bees might have to expend extra energy squeezing through the excluder.
- Because it takes extra work to squeeze through the excluder, workers might be more likely to try and store honey down among the brood, eventually filling up available laying space. This is called a “honey-bound” hive and could even encourage swarming.
- Squeezing through the excluder can also put additional wear and tear on the wings of the worker bees, causing occasional damage.
- Sometimes, drones attempt to cross the excluder and get stuck.
Do You Really Need a Queen Excluder?
Some beekeepers swear by them, while others avoid them entirely. Whether or not to use a queen excluder comes down to personal preference and hive conditions. If you’re unsure, consider testing a queen excluder in one hive and observing its impact on honey yield, brood pattern, and overall hive health.
Final Thoughts on Queen Excluders
Queen excluders can be a helpful tool for beehive management, especially if your priority is harvesting clean, brood-free honey. However, they may also introduce new challenges in colony behavior and productivity. Understanding both the benefits and drawbacks will help you make the best decision for your apiary.
This article was written for Hobby Farms magazine. Click here to subscribe.
