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Author Topic: Queen Marking and Clipping  (Read 9031 times)

Offline Zoot

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Re: Queen Marking and Clipping
« Reply #20 on: March 26, 2007, 02:49:22 pm »
Brendhan,

It's in Brushy Mt's catalogue. Odd that it's not on their site. It's a handy device but I've had equal results using a window in a dark room; mask the window to allow a small opening for sunlight and open the queen cage. The bees cluster at the light and you can pick up the queen at your leisure, discard the attendants, etc. Or put them all back. They won't go anywhere.

Online Michael Bush

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Re: Queen Marking and Clipping
« Reply #21 on: March 26, 2007, 10:11:33 pm »
>I've had equal results using a window in a dark room

True, but the window in a dark room is a couple of hundred yards from the beeyard in my back yard and 60 miles from my outyard.  :)
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
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Offline adamf

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Re: Queen Marking and Clipping
« Reply #22 on: April 01, 2007, 10:07:31 am »
I've never had much of a problem with that,  sounds like you need to find a better marker substance.

I've used various materials over the years and find that with whatever material used, some marks do wear off. If inseminating, we use glued-on discs, and they stay pretty well. What marking material do you have good luck with?

If you clip AND mark, and the mark wears off, at least you know if the queen is original or new.


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Offline ZuniBee

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Re: Queen Marking and Clipping
« Reply #23 on: April 01, 2007, 11:08:10 am »
I bought this little plastic tube like device with a plunger that has a spounge that pushes the queen up to the large mesh sou you can mark her. After reading Michaels post I also bought the queen muff. The muff looks like a real good way to work the queen.

I really want to mark the queens so I can find them easier and know if the original queen is still there. I have the Yellow color marker for 2007. I plan to put the queen in the queen muff, pick her up and gently mark her. Then release her directly into the hive with the new package. Since I am getting 4 packages I'll have to do it 4 times. While I am not really scared of being stung (I consider it a fact that it will happen) I am just curious how ofter queens sting. If I put the queen in the queen muff and pick her up how likely am I to be stung?

Also, I read that sometimes there are a few workers in the queen cage. If that is the case things could become a little more difficult!

Offline Cindi

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Re: Queen Marking and Clipping
« Reply #24 on: April 01, 2007, 11:18:30 am »
Zunibee, now that is a good question about the queen stinging.  I wonder too.  I don't think that she can deliver as hefty a sting as a worker cause of the length of her abdomen and the ability to grasp the flesh with the hind tarsi to get a grasp to sting.

I know she can sting cause she kills other queens.  Best of this great day.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Online Michael Bush

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Re: Queen Marking and Clipping
« Reply #25 on: April 01, 2007, 09:05:41 pm »
>Zunibee, now that is a good question about the queen stinging.  I wonder too.  I don't think that she can deliver as hefty a sting as a worker cause of the length of her abdomen and the ability to grasp the flesh with the hind tarsi to get a grasp to sting.

I've been keeping bees for 33 years and have NEVER been stung by a queen.  I handle them a LOT as I raise queens.  I won't say a queen cannot sting you, but Jay Smith, who reared thousands of them every year, said he was only stung once by one and that was on a spot that he had previously squished a queen.

"a queen will never sting anything but a rival queen. I might qualify that statement by saying a queen never stings anything but a queen, or what she thinks is a queen. I was stung by a queen once but I insist it was a case of mistaken identity, for she thought I was a queen. It happened thus: I had been requeening some colonies and in removing the old queens I killed them by pinching them between my thumb and finger. I had wiped my thumb and finger on my trouser leg. A virgin queen circled me a few times probably to adjust her bomb sights then mad a pin-point landing on the spot where I had wiped my thumb and finger, and planted her sting in my leg. Yes, she thought I was a queen. While greatly appreciating the compliment, I would much prefer she would show her appreciation in a less militant manner." --Jay Smith, Better Queens
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesbetterqueens.htm#The%20Worker%20Bee%20as%20Fully%20Developed%20a%20Female%20as%20the%20Queen
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
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Offline reinbeau

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Re: Queen Marking and Clipping
« Reply #26 on: April 02, 2007, 09:24:51 am »
Queens don't have barbs on their stinger, do they?  So, it doesn't rip out and they don't die of stinging.  At least that's what I understand, correct me if I'm wrong!  :)

Offline ZuniBee

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Re: Queen Marking and Clipping
« Reply #27 on: April 02, 2007, 09:47:32 am »
Quote
I've been keeping bees for 33 years and have NEVER been stung by a queen.  I handle them a LOT as I raise queens.  I won't say a queen cannot sting you, but Jay Smith, who reared thousands of them every year, said he was only stung once by one and that was on a spot that he had previously squished a queen.

I have four queens to mark. If I handle the first will the second "smell" the queen? Or does it only apply to squished queens? I am going to video the procedure so I will have to be calm so I don't look too foolish!  8-)

Offline Cindi

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Re: Queen Marking and Clipping
« Reply #28 on: April 02, 2007, 10:46:01 am »
Ann, 100% correct, no barbs on the queen's stinger.  Another trivia, when worker bees sting other bees (and other such things as insects, etc.), the stinger is not left behind.  It is only in the "fleshy" parts of the higher forms of life that the barbed stinger gets stuck within, with the end result of the death of the bee in the loss of the sting apparatus that has been ripped out of her body.  Have a wonderful day.  Cindi 
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline Jerrymac

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Re: Queen Marking and Clipping
« Reply #29 on: April 02, 2007, 12:46:18 pm »
Another trivia, when worker bees sting other bees (and other such things as insects, etc.), the stinger is not left behind.  It is only in the "fleshy" parts of the higher forms of life that the barbed stinger gets stuck within

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Offline Cindi

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Re: Queen Marking and Clipping
« Reply #30 on: April 03, 2007, 11:16:20 am »
Jerry, oh ya.  Right.  I remember seeing this documentary on the AHB and they had a hunk of leather that they were using to demonstrate how many stings could be imbedded in the leather from these infuriated workers.  It was astounding to see hundreds upon hundreds of stingers in such a small area.  It could be used as a population control I suppose.  LOL.  Have a fantastic day.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Online Michael Bush

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Re: Queen Marking and Clipping
« Reply #31 on: April 04, 2007, 08:02:51 am »
>I have four queens to mark. If I handle the first will the second "smell" the queen? Or does it only apply to squished queens?

I mark one after the other all day often.  So did Jay Smith.  I've never been stung by one.  Apparently he was only stung by one and he raised MANY more queens in a year than I have in my life.
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
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Offline Cindi

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Re: Queen Marking and Clipping
« Reply #32 on: April 04, 2007, 10:24:02 am »
Michael.  That thing about Jay Smith.  Now that makes total sense.  Why on earth would a queen sting anything other than the other female that she wants to put to death?  She is not a guard, the only guard activity that she performs is one that guards the fact that there can be no other mature girls in the hive that could take her own very life.  LOL.  Have a beautiful and awesome day.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

Offline tig

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Re: Queen Marking and Clipping
« Reply #33 on: April 06, 2007, 11:15:52 pm »
this reminds me of a funny incident one day when i was marking queens. i had marked about 18 already and when i got to the 19th box, i proceeded the normal way of trapping the queen between my fingers and pressing her down gently on the comb so i could mark her.  after placing the spot on her thorax, i opened my fingers and instead of running away as they normally do, she curled up and rolled to her side!

my jaw dropped and my assistant and i stared at her in disbelief. i prodded her with my finger but she wasn't moving so i figured she must have died from fright. her attendants kept licking her but nada....she looked dead as a doornail.

i put the comb lying sidedown and made preparations to merge her colony with another one.  when we had set up the newspaper and box over the other colony, i went back to get the queenless colony.  i took the comb and gazed down sadly at the queen, silently given her a eulogy {alas, i knew her well and she was a great queen!}.  suddenly she gave a convulsive jerk and i almost dropped the comb in atonishment.  she stretched out and stood up and calmly went to a cell and layed an egg like nothing had happened!

i named her Drama queen and she went on to lay for a year more before she died.  since then i've developed a phobia for marking queens lol....


Offline limyw

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Re: Queen Marking and Clipping
« Reply #34 on: April 07, 2007, 10:07:35 am »
I never mark my queen before. Thinking to try once but can I use lipstick to mark them? :-D
lyw

Online Michael Bush

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Re: Queen Marking and Clipping
« Reply #35 on: April 07, 2007, 10:12:24 am »
I've seen queens faint before.  It's good to give them time and see if they fainted or you killed them. :)

Jay Smith has a theory on that too:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearingsimplified.htm
Search for "The Question of Cataleptic Queens"
My website:  bushfarms.com/bees.htm en espanol: bushfarms.com/es_bees.htm  auf deutsche: bushfarms.com/de_bees.htm  em portugues:  bushfarms.com/pt_bees.htm
My book:  ThePracticalBeekeeper.com
-------------------
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Offline Cindi

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Re: Queen Marking and Clipping
« Reply #36 on: April 07, 2007, 10:35:03 am »
Tig, I have read something about the queen doing this.  The author of the book called it queen cramping.  Good thing she finished her faint, cramp, whatever it was and carried on to do her duties.  Yeah!!!  BEst of the beautiful day.  Cindi
There are strange things done in the midnight sun by the men who moil for gold.  The Arctic trails have their secret tales that would make your blood run cold.  The Northern Lights have seen queer sights, but the queerest they ever did see, what the night on the marge of Lake Lebarge, I cremated Sam McGee.  Robert Service

 

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