Queen Excluders - Love Them or Hate Them (080)

On today's episode, Jim and Jeff Ott (from Beekeeping Today Podcast), discuss the value and use of the 'love it or hate it" piece of equipment, the Queen Excluder. Queen excluders are included in almost every "Honey Producer Starter Package", but why and how are they used? Jim and Jeff discuss the multiple uses of a queen excluders (Did you know they will also exclude drones? Or that you can use one to help while uncapping frames of honey? Of course you did!) They discuss the types of queen excluders and why wood bound excluders are likely preferred by the bees. When it is time pull honey, excluders make the process much faster, as the beekeeper can simply pull the honey supers above the excluder, blow out the bees and take them home to extract. Some beekeepers don't like them and call them "honey excluders". Is this name justified? Or is it a management issue that can be addressed? But yes, many beekeepers produce honey successfully without ever touching a queen excluder. Listen today as Jim and Jeff talk about the use of queen excluders. Afterwards, head over to the Honey Bee Obscura YouTube Channel to watch a special VideoMoment 'Queen Excluders - Love Them or Hate Them… or don't care. You can find different types and forms of queen excluders on our sponsor's website: https://www.betterbee.com We hope you enjoyed today's episode. Please follow or subscribe today and leave a comment! We'd love to hear from you! ___________________ Thanks to Betterbee for sponsoring today's episode. Betterbee's mission is to support every beekeeper with excellent customer service, continued education and quality equipment. From their colorful and informative catalog to their support of beekeeper educational activities, including this podcast series, Betterbee truly is Beekeepers Serving Beekeepers. See for yourself at www.betterbee.com ______________________ Honey Bee Obscura is brought to you by Growing Planet Media, LLC, the home of Beekeeping Today Podcast. Music: Heart & Soul by Gyom, Walking in Paris by Studio Le Bus, original guitar music by Jeffrey Ott Copyright © 2022 by Growing Planet Media, LLC