# How to make homemade queen excluder?



## magnet-man (Jul 10, 2004)

Most people who have top bar hives that use a queen excluder just cut one down to fit. You might try purchasing one of the plastic ones. If you wanted to make one I would think drilling a lot of holes into a thin sheet of plywood would work. I forget what size hole you have to use. I do know that wire screen 5 wires to an inch will work as a crude queen excluder. Small queens like buckfast can cross it and so can larger queens, but it works as a good deterrent. To find it go to an old fashion hardware store and they will cut the length you need.


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## wayacoyote (Nov 3, 2003)

Dave Cushman has a few designs for homemade excluders for traditional hives on his site. Getting the spacing is my trouble. The spacing is an "odd" size. So I purchased some cheep plastic ones for cutting and shaping to sizes I'll need.
WayaCoyote


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

#5 will work, but I think it's a bit hard on the bees. It's also what is used for a pollen trap, so you have to make sure pollen is getting through.

Of course, I'd cut down a regular one. Either a metal or plastic one will work. The old zinc ones from Watler T. Kelly would work nicely but they are only available in quantities of a hundred.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

But then I don't use a queen excluder on my TBH or on my regular hives. I seldom use one at all.


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## madbee (Nov 12, 2004)

Where is Dave Cushman's site?


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman/excludertypes.html 
http://website.lineone.net/~dave.cushman/textlinks.html


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