4m x 3m Omlet pen, cube, new auto door still boxed and coop light

[daj198]

Does anyone know if it is possible to have a queen excluder in a top bar hive? I can't think of any reason why not but I haven't heard of people doing this. Surely you could have part of the hive as brood and part as super, divided by a follower board with mesh on it?

 

Thanks

[chickenanne]

I don't have a TBH, so will wait to be corrected but for what it's worth, my understanding is that MOST people with TBH try to keep things as natural as possible. Allowing Her Majesty to go wherever she likes in the hive would be part of this.

 

I know folk with "conventional" hives who don't use queen excluders on the basis that the "bees know best": the raionale being that if Queeny wants to lay (and the workers are happy for her to do so) in the super, then let her get on with it; honey will be stored near, but not in, the main brood area anyway, so a queen excluder therefore shouldn't be a necessity. I'm pretty new to this, so use an excluder outside the winter months: just explaining the viewpoint of another local-to-me beek!

[beesontoast]

Does anyone know if it is possible to have a queen excluder in a top bar hive? I can't think of any reason why not but I haven't heard of people doing this. Surely you could have part of the hive as brood and part as super, divided by a follower board with mesh on it?

 

Thanks

 

 

You can indeed use a vertical queen excluder in a TBH to keep honey separate from brood. I have done this, but no longer do it routinely as I dislike interfering with the way the bees like to have things arranged.

 

If you do us a QX, be sure to remove it for the winter so the bees have u"Ooops, word censored!"structed access to their stores - assuming you leave some combs for them.