Queen excluders for beehives 

A queen excluder, also called a moerrooster, is a grid that the queen cannot pass through. This lets you manage the bee colony. For example, you can use it to prevent a queen from entering the honey super. This way the queen lays no eggs in the honey super and the honey from the colony you can harvest. But by using a queen excluder you can also force the queen to stay in a specific part of the hive. If, for example, you want to remove the lower brood box to clean it or carry out comb renewal, you can use a queen excluder. This ensures the queen remains in the upper brood box. Usually you can encourage her to move up by blowing smoke with a smoker into the entrance. You can then place the queen excluder on the lower box. Then put the upper box back on. If all goes well, this will prevent the queen from entering the lower box. After a few days, check whether there are eggs in the lower box. If not, the queen is above the excluder, in the upper brood box. Once all brood has emerged in the lower box, you can remove it and/or replace the comb.

Showing 1 - 39 of 39 items
Showing 1 - 39 of 39 items

What size queen excluder should I use?

When buying a queen excluder, a few key points are important. Most important is the size of the beehives you use. If you have a spaarkast, you need a queen excluder that also fits the spaarkast. And if you have a Dadant hive, then you should choose an excluder that fits the Dadant hive. The only difference between these excluders is the size. For a spaarkast the excluder is roughly 47 by 42 cm, and for a Dadant hive about 50 by 50 cm.

 

Materials queen excluders are made from.

There are more differences between queen excluders, such as the material they’re made from. The following materials are commonly available and each has its pros and cons. Most common is a galvanized steel or stainless steel (SS) queen excluder. This is a bar-style model that worker bees can easily pass through, but the queen, which is larger, cannot. A potential drawback is that if a bar gets bent, it’s often hard to straighten and the queen may slip through. Another popular material is plastic. A plastic queen excluder is lightweight, affordable, and often available in various thicknesses. The bars won’t bend and there’s no heat loss, making it ideal for a beginner. An alternative is an aluminum excluder. These are usually very thin, punched from an aluminum sheet. That’s also the advantage: you hardly see it in the hive between the boxes and there’s almost no heat loss because it’s so thin and makes hardly any contact with the outside air. Finally, there’s the wooden queen excluder. It’s a nice, effective excluder with a low environmental footprint. No longer needed or worn out? It can go straight on the compost heap or into the stove. A benefit of metal, aluminum, and stainless steel excluders is that they can all be cleaned with a blowtorch. This is quick and easy. As the excluder heats up, the wax melts and it comes clean. The heat also disinfects it. You can also use an excluder scraper; these are available for steel and/or plastic excluders.

 

How do I choose which queen excluder to buy?

First choose which hive size you’ll use the queen excluder on, for example a spaarkast. Once decided, you’ll know the size you need. Then check which materials the queen excluder is available in. You can choose, for example, a stainless steel queen excluder or a plastic queen excluder. So when buying, focus on size and your preferred material.

 

When do you place a queen excluder?

A queen excluder is mainly used during the honey harvest. If you have a strong colony with one or two brood boxes (brood chambers) and you want to harvest honey, place the excluder on the brood box (brood chamber), and the honey super on top. This keeps the queen out of the honey super and your honey free of eggs and larvae. After all, the queen excluder prevents the queen from laying eggs in the honey super. This lets you extract your honey frames cleanly, without contamination.


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