Queen in the supers

[Silvbee]

Hi all,

A couple of weeks ago I found that a queen in one of my hives had managed to sneak into the supers to lay even though a QE was on. I thought it was maybe an error Id made so stuck her back in the brood but when I checked the hive this week there she was back in the supers. I checked the QE and it doesn't have any holes or gaps could this be a skinny queen who's just squeezing through? Has anyone else experienced this?
She's laying really well with big blocks of brood so shes not a scrub and there are no QC in the hive so shes not preparing to swarm.

Thoughts?

[Dark Bee]

Is there any possibility that you opened the hive and left the underside of the excluder adjacent to the supers? The smoker is a much abused tool and its overuse or the use of unsuitable fuel, will send her upwards onto the excluder or the crown board.
Not saying that is what happened, but it may be a possibility. If you are using a long slotted excluder - perhaps upgrade to a wire one. It would be very difficult for a Q. in full lay to get to the other side of a sound QE. Do please let us know if you find the cause of the problem; these things are interesting.

[Silvbee]

Hey darkbee,
No chance of the queen slipping in on the back of the QE as when I found her I put the hive back together and posted her back in through the front entrance. Im going to change the QE tomorrow and see if that makes a difference. I'll keep you posted.

[Dark Bee]

The QE has to be defective then. If she didn't go over, under or beside it, then she can only have gone through it ( like the chap after whom Beechers Brook is named). The thorax of an adult queen remains a constant size, it is the abdomen which reduces in size prior to her changing addresses, so even if she was on a forced diet an excluder should still be an effective barrier. Get a wire excluder, they are probably the best and if you are using a long slotted zinc one, scrap it for they are notoriously unreliable.

[Bumble]

I've got one plastic excluder that I should throw away because it's rubbish. With top bee space the thing will sag until it rests on the top of the frames which makes the holes slightly larger, and big enough for a determined queen to squeeze through. Small battens beneath it don't make any difference.

[Mellifera Crofter]

Yes, Beesinthezoo - it's happened to me. I was mystified as well and somebody in here replied to say that it can happen (perhaps Jon). She also managed to escape from one those clipper type of queen catchers (the ones that look like hair clippers) when I tried to mark her. She was in a wooden hive with a proper wire queen excluder with a frame around it.
Kitta

[Poly Hive]

Most excluders will keep most queens in their place but not all of them all of the time for various reasons, mainly in my experience manufacturing faults. It's one of them thar things.

PH

[Silvbee]

And the verdict is... must have been the zinc slotted QE. Fitted a wire one and shes back where she belongs.
Cheers all.