[keithbeekeeperMember]

Using French mouse guards – The older style have little cutouts to allow the bees to crawl in. These are 0.35 inches high, but because of the threat of Asian hornets invading, the new mouseguards don’t have these cutouts, but the guard provides a single slot the width of the full entrance which is only 0.20 inches high. The bees generally seem to accept this, but I have seen a couple of drones get stuck and die there.

My question is, would a queen be unable to pass under the 0.20 inch slot should she decide to swarm ?

If not, what problems would be envisaged by ‘locking’ a potential swarming queen in ?

What other problems could anyone see ?

[ThePathKeymaster]

Wow good question, well if drones can get stuck I would presume there is every chance a queen would get stuck.

If a swarm attempt was made, she gets stuck, the outcome is she dies unless you intervene.

If the new queen stays in the hive then the two queens would battle to the death.

I think the best idea is to be very proactive in stopping swarming or if you want them to swarm for whatever reason remove the guard at the normal swarming times of the year.

The queens I have seen all look longer than drones but not necessarily fatter or taller. Are non-mated queens skinnier than mated ones?

Oh youve stirred up a relative Asian hornets nest now! So many questions…

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