No matter what style of honey harvest you choose, a queen excluder is a basic piece of equipment you need.
It’s placed between the deep food cham- ber and the shallow (or medium) honey supers, the parts of the hive that are used to collect surplus honey. The queen excluder comes already assembled and consists of a wooden frame holding a grid of metal wire.
The queen from entering the honey super and laying eggs. Otherwise, a queen laying eggs in the super encourages bees to bring pollen into the super, spoiling the clarity of the honey. The spacing of the grid is such that smaller worker bees can pass through to the honey supers.
You use a queen excluder only when you place honey supers on the hive and the bees are bringing in nectar and making it into honey. It is a piece of woodenware that is unique to honey production. When you are not collecting honey, it should not be used.
