Guilfordbeekeepers.org

I had sent a message to Wally, and he asked me to post it here, as it may benefit all.

I have a question. I know that you (Wally) do not re-queen your hives, rather you allow them to raise a queen. I have one hive that sent out a primay swarm, and unknown # of after swarms. I have a second of four hives (a swarm that I caught from the other hive mentioned) that has developed a bad attitude. They are queenright, just not gentle.
So, the one is a captured swarm from this year. I plan on requeening that hive. They are only in a single deep right now, so I am not worried about them, I may add a super for room in a few days. The other one that I plan on requeening is in two deeps, with one super. I placed a queen excluder between the two deeps on Monday the 6th. I was anticipating queens this coming week. I had hoped to make it easier to find her, knowing she had to be where I found eggs. Now I have found out that I cannot get the queens until the end of the month. Can I leave the queen excluder on or will it cause an issue, being 21+ days?

If it is just an excluder, it can be left on indefinitely. If it includes a solid board that the workers can't travel through, they will raise their own queen in the queenless half.

What about the attitude of the hive. I have been told that dividing the brood nest with an excluder can alter (make mean) the attitude of the hive, as well as push them into swarming? I was thinking that being near the summer derth, that the queen was going to slow her laying down enough that a single deep to lay in would be enough?

I don't know who told you that garbage, but forget it. Your last thoughts are closer to the truth.

Got the risk of swarming from a beesource post asking the excluder question. The bad attitude came from the qeen producer.
I took it off this evening. I may try and put it back in about two weeks, around the 22nd. Then if I get a queen by the 27th. all eggs should be hatched, leaving me eggs where the queen is at.

Otherwise, I may have a queen ordered for nothing, as I doubt I could find her! The other hive is a single deep, and I am sure I will have a hard enough time finding her in that. I really stink at finding a queen. I can easily see eggs, and know she has been their. But finding her, well that is a horse of a different color!