Cleaning Queen Excluders

[SCFarms]

I have 500 Queen excluders I need to clean and the method I was taught seems kind of messy, I'm curious to hear what other beekeepers do to clean theirs so that I can find a better way to do mine this winter when I have some extra time.

[Bill W.]

If they're all metal, I think I would build a nice campfire and set them over it 10 or 20 at a time.  They'll burn clean pretty fast.

[pdmattox]

we use a hotsy, A pressure washer with a heater on it. we also use it on feeder jars to clean out the little holes filled with wax.

[asprince]

We place them over a fire barrel full of hot coals for about 20 - 30 seconds. Handle with pliers. Works fast.

Steve

[justgojumpit]

you could also use a torch if you have wood framed metal queen excluders.  They make torches that you hook up to a propane jug, like for a barbecue.  These put out a big flame (4" wide or so)

justgojumpit

[ANDREWSCHWAB]

For years we would clean the hundreds of queen excluders by the above mentioned methods. :-\
For some reason one year they did not get cleaned.

To find out it didn't matter there was no more wax on them then when they where installed. Since then the excluders get a quick scraping so they store and sit flat, THAT"S IT!

The bees seem to want to put/fill a certain amount  of wax on them , but never do they come close to sealing them up

[rdy-b]

I always get better results in the honey suppers after cleaning excluders-it is a ventalation thing for me-hapy bees are more productive-(i think :) )-RDY-B

[BjornBee]

I use flat plastic, and they are cleaned by a simple pass over with the hive tool while sitting on a flat surface.

[rdy-b]

I also use the flat plastic -I boil a five gallon bucket-(metal) half full of watter on a turkey fryer-pick up five excluders bend and slip into the watter -pull out and dip other half -buy doing five at once you can run through a hundred in about forty minutes -takes time but it is easy work-RDY-B