MillerThousand AnswersBeekeepingQuestions.pdf - BioBees

THOUSAND ANSWERS 81Q. Are not queen-excluders a hindrance to bees, or will I haveto get some excluders? If so, how many?A. While it is generally thought best to use excluders forextracted honey, some do not use them, such prominent men as C.P. Dadant and E. D. Townsend being of the number. The lattersays that by giving additional supers always on top he has noneed for excluders. If you find it is better to use them, you willneed one for each colony.Q. Have you tried the new queen and drone-excluders, orhoney-boards, made of wire? Have they any claim to be classedas an improvement on the perforated zinc, or is it only a schemeof the manufacturers?A. I do not use excluders under supers, so I don't use manyexcluders, although for some purposes they are indispensable.Having quite a stock of the old kind of excluders on hand, I havenever tried the wire excluders. I don't suppose there is a greatdeal of difference, but one would suppose that the bees would likethe smooth wires better than the sharp edge left by the punchingof the metal for the perforations.The wire excluders also allow better ventilation.Q. Can virgin or unfertile queens pais through excludingzinc?A. A laying queen looks much larger than a virgin, but it isthe abdomen that's larger, not the thorax. It's not the abdomen,but the thorax that prevents a queen going through the zinc, andI think the thorax of a laying queen is no larger than it waswhen she was a virgin; so she ought to go through no more easilyone time than another. But a virgin queen probably makes amore vigorous effort to go through, so she might go through anaperture through which she would not force herself after shesettled down as a laying queen.Extracted Honey.—Q. I am going to buy five dovetailed 10-frame hives this spring. I only want honey for the house. Whichis better for me, the extracting hive or sections? I read in thebee-books the extracting hive is best for home use. Please tellme why.A. Extracting saves the bees much labor in building comb, soit is generally estimated that you can get about one-half more extractedhoney than comb. So, in deciding the question for yourself,the question is whether you would rather have 100 pounds ofcomb honey or ISO pounds of extracted.Q. Is it advisable to extract honey as soon is it is gathered?Is there any danger of it getting sour?