§ XVII. QUEEN AND DRONE PREVENTER.
Much disappointment is often felt, when removing a super that appears well filled with honey, at finding that brood, and not honey, is in many of the cells. In such a case the super should be replaced on the hive until such time as the brood has hatched out. The comb will be found to be discoloured, but there is no help for that. The fact of there being even a few cells so occupied is a great deterioration. This little contrivance, however, excludes both the queen and the drones, the wires or strips of zinc being fixed too close together to admit of their passage, though wide enough for the worker bees. It is adapted for any hole that it will cover, but more especially for the openings in the tops of straw hives communicating with the supers. Some of our better-class hives are fitted with slides pierced in like manner, or else with sheets of perforated zinc to ensure the same end.
The queen-preventer also serves a useful purpose in preventing pollen being carried into the supers, as the edges of the wires or bars act as scrapers upon the legs of the bees.