How do drones get through the queen excluder into the supers in the first place?
There should be no drones in supers.
.....but folklore persists.
But agree rhombus/figure 8 work more efficiently.
How do drones get through the queen excluder into the supers in the first place?
There should be no drones in supers.
.....but folklore persists.
But agree rhombus/figure 8 work more efficiently.
Not really folklore. I've often carried out a demaree and then allowed them to backfill the top brood boxes with honey in strong OSR flows. I let hatching drone out every so often but the odd one persists and gets stuck when clearing. In my experience porters are a total pain, not just with rogue drones but due to slow slow clearing efficiency and malfunctioning springs as well.
I don't use Q excluders on colonies at the heather and the drones hide away from the brood nest, up top cause they may know what is coming or the workers hassle them out of the way. The porter escapes can sometimes then get clogged - I have found drones stuck in the springs.
I've tried no QX a few times on the heather. Bloody plume of brood throughout every super. This may, however, be a characteristic of the type of bees I keep.
Personally I think the only place for porter bee escapes should be as exhibits in museums of beekeeping . There are better options that cause less problems...Rhombus/Figure of 8 etc. It's not that porters don't work, they just don't work as well as easier options.
Brother Adam preferred Porters, apparently.
Then don't stack them higgly piggly.
I can understand when demareed or no excluder used.
But I can't see the number of possible drones entering supers in a short inspection time having much effect on rhombus clearer's. I reckon there is plenty of room for a drone to get through a rhombus. They are not as "tight" as porters.
What has caused a problem for me this season has been a number of dead bees blocking them. I think the high temps and then isolating the supers has meant the bees were not able to regulate the internal temperatures well here. I had a couple, early doors, where this happened,so I vented the supers whilst clearing through rhombus escapes (the beauty of Abelo poly crownboards) . Still didn't work as efficiently as usual. Due, I think, to the high temperatures we had this year.
Last edited by Thymallus; 16-08-2018 at 06:00 PM.
I think the problem cited was getting stuck in QXs
A proper check for afb means just that !
Most people stack their supers on the up turned roof, these are deliberately positioned, turned through a few degrees for both stability and to minimise edge on edge contact!
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