Quote Originally Posted by susbees View Post
The idea with Demaree is that you can keep moving frames up and down between the boxes all season if you want without messing up the honey crop and needing more space and extra equipment. Just keep dealing with any cells.
Quote Originally Posted by gavin View Post
...What advantage is carried by the Demaree method? I'd guess simplicity and adaptability ...
Can one make a little eke with an entrance to allow the drones their freedom? But I suppose that introduces extra equipment and they may decide to swarm through this entrance if we've missed a queencell.

If the queen is separated from the main broodbox at the top by one or two supers, does one really need a queen excluder? Is she likely to march up over the super or supers to get to the top box? The drones will then be free.

I've just read an old post by Jon from May 2010 warning that there must be drawn comb in the brood box if the bees have access to honey combs because, if not, the workers will polish the honey combs to make space for the queen. So, I suppose if it is feasible to do what I've just suggested, then one must bear that in mind.

Jon's post is here:

Quote Originally Posted by Jon View Post
I have noticed that when you do this the bees tend to move into the super where the comb is already drawn and will be reluctant to draw more than a couple of frames of foundation down below. Bees may be smart - but they are not smart enough to know that a queen excluder lives up to its name so they will polish cells for the queen to lay in up in the super as it sure beats drawing foundation.
Kitta