Why go Stainless on Queen Excluders?

"Why do I need to go stainless when I have excluders that are working?" A common question we often get asked.

The short answer is simple - To get more honey!

The stainless steel excluder mesh is the gentlest queen excluder available to the bees. Honeybees beat their wings 11,400 times per minute and are very delicate and susceptible to damage.

A bee normally flies hundreds of kilometres in its life but if the wings are damaged, its life is dramatically reduced and so is the potential honey crop.

Check out the photo below of honey bee wings:

Some plastic excluders have sharp inner edges that can damage the bees’ wings. Galvanised steel mesh excluders can corrode and be like sandpaper, especially if acid treatments are used.

Size of the gap in excluder mesh is very important! Many excluders in NZ have only 4mm gap for the bees to squeeze through.

The European standard is 4.3mm. That is 7.5% larger and makes a big difference to a bee with a full load of nectar. The stainless steel excluders at Beequip all have 4.3mm gaps!

Check out our range of stainless excluders here