E mail from t h o r n e s

Just had this from t h o r n e s

Dear Beekeeper

IMPORTANT NOTICE.

It has come to our attention that some of our Harmless plastic excluders purchased in the last six months may be faulty. A percentage of them have slots which are very slightly smaller than the recommended size and bees may become stuck.

Please check your hives which are fitted with these excluders and, if there is any problem, please contact us. We will immediately replace with the Natural plastic excluder. Please also tell your fellow beekeepers, particularly beginners in your local area.

I got the same email, but they don't explain how to tell if you have one of the smaller ones or not.
Or do you have to put it on a hive and see if the bees get trapped in them.

A bit more info from them would have been helpfull.

Brian

Looks like a case of try it and see, unless people know they have bought the supposedly "HARMLESS" queen excluder.

I don't use excluders any more.

The only reference I saw on the Th*rne website was for slotted steel excluders. slot width 4.3mm.

It may not be the same for a plastic, so perhaps a reply e-mail to ask the size might be in order. Check with an accurate set of drill shanks for 'go' or 'no go' is an option for those without a micrometer.

Regards, RAB

Onge said:

I don't use excluders any more.

Click to expand...

Really?

MBP

manbearpig said:

Really?

MBP

Click to expand...

there are several systems that do not uses QE and one is a Rose hive often called a one size box hive or rose OSB, all boxes are the same and it works as you add boxes the middle not on top, the brood expands rather than just the honey store, supposidly they are less likley to want to swarm

Yes I use a one size box (medium Langstroth)

Loving it so far.

I got the same email, hmm how to tell if the pack of 10 I bought are wrong or not!

Bee-Key-Pur said:

...they don't explain how to tell if you have one of the smaller ones or not...

Click to expand...

YorkshireBees said:

...hmm how to tell if the pack of 10 I bought are wrong or not!

Click to expand...

I would be of the opinion that if they are going to potentially cause problems, just send everything you've bought in that time period back to them, and get them to replace the lot.

They'll be getting it covered by the manufacturers - better to be safe than sorry I'd have thought.

Ahem, re-read email! I have the Natural ones NOT the harmless, lol

Off to measure mine in the morning, I bought some in the sale. I notice the 'harmless' type is no longer on the T's website.

As regards sizing Dave Cushman's site states.

Perforated Zinc Type, Plastic Sheet Type, Zintec Type

These are probably the most popular in the UK... <cut>...... The dimensions of the 'hole' are 4.38 mm x 18.3 mm.

Try comparing to another one?

I asked the question to T's today and the answer was-

The correct size is 4.35 – 4.5mm

"A percentage of them have slots which are very slightly smaller than the recommended size and bees may become stuck."

could make a good swarm trap if placed under brood box - no bees at all able to escape!!!!

Just been on to Thornes about this issue and I have been told that the problem QEs are coloured ORANGE and everything else is fine.
Hope this helps.

measured mine, orange ones. the gap 4.18 mm. but i cant find the return address to send them..

Lauri

"but i cant find the return address to send them"

them th**nes people
wragby
a bit north and right a bit.

found it. packed and ready for postage.
Lauri

well we replaced 80 or so QE with these orange ones and so far the results have been disasterous.

It seems not all colonies are affected but the ones that are - perhaps due to different bee sizes - completely supress the hives expansion and as a result hardly any workers store any nector above the QE.

For example a similarly sized hive (3/4 brood) next to each other, 1 with metal QE approx 45 pounds full, 1 with orange QE, 0 pounds full.

Not only is it the loss of honey, the lack of space means the brood area is restricted and the colony throws up queen cells all over the place and the brood box is rammed full. no doubt these colonies (some of which produced well over 300 pounds last year) have been severely throttled back.

been frantically running all over the place today to replace these shoddy QEs and knock out the queen cells. done about 5 of 20 sites now...