How to Insert a Queen Excluder & Recycling Propolis

 

I remember a time a few years ago when I drove home from the bee yard crying.

I had just inserted a queen excluder and I was pretty certain I'd crushed all the bees under it when I put the super on top.

I returned a week later and didn't find a dead bees pinned under the excluder so I things turned out okay after all.

But to help you, when you want to put the excluder on you may find the deep box boiling with bees.  If that's the case you need to smoke them to get them to move down.

 

You should do this whenever you're putting a box or excluder on in order to make room so they don't get crushed.

Also bear in mind if you had a super in play already then there could be bees hanging under it, in which case you can set the super on it's side and smoke the bottom to push the bees back inside the box.

Then when you put your boxes on top you won't crush bees, or go home crying because you thought you did.

 

Queen excluders resemble propolis mats and often the bees will put propolis all over the excluder.  Don't every throw away any propolis scrapings.  Just watch this video (below) where I put a glob of propolis on top of the excluders after removing them.

 

 

I set all the excluders out for the bees to clean the propolis off.  They recycle it and it's especially needed in the fall to help winterize their hive.  After about 4 days that glob of propolis was completely gone.