Besides a quick chat up on my split hive and the new queen, Stafano mentioned that he does not use a queen excluder. Not use a queen excluder? But I was taught the purpose of doing so and the helpful aid a queen excluder can be.... I'm paraphrasing here but it was explained that a happy and healthy hive is the result of giving the bees room to do their thing. More room prevents overcrowding and thus, reduces the desire to swarm.
The bees will naturally store entire frames of honey up top outside of the brood frames. If the queen happens to get some brood in there, don't pull those frames. Simple as that. And be sure the queen is not on the frames that you do pull. Come fall, the queen will move lower in the hive in preparation for winter cluster.
Stefano also gets rid of his drones. He explains that there are plenty of drones around to mate with a queen in the spring so he scrapes open their cells. Drones are silly fun, but they just take up space, eating too much. I didn't go through every box but did get rid of a number of drone cells in the OV hive. Within minutes, I watched a house bee drag a pupae out the entrance. Tidy creatures, these bees.
Stafano and Heidi live in Southern Maryland, not far from Accokeek. I will definitely make it a priority to visit their bee yard real soon!
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