[Gypsi]

I don't use queen excluders. I do check frames for brood before extracting honey but the queen mostly stays where she should and some people call queen excluders honey excluders because bees don't like to go thru them to fill the top box.
They usually do eventually. Not worth trouble for me

 

[Gypsi]

If you do not have a top vent the atmosphere in the upper box is not suitable for brood, so the queen will not usually lay in the upper box.

That explains why my queens don't lay in the top - I don't have top vents