I Finally Found my QUEEN

[papabear]

 :-D This  is the first time I found my queen. If I had my camera I could had taken pics but thats how it goes. What is the best and safest way to mark the queen? :)

[Kathyp]

i'd say don't bother.  all last year i only saw mine once and then found a second young queen wandering around the front porch at the end of the year.  i figured if there were eggs, there was a queen and that's all i needed to know.  catching and marking her seemed like an unacceptable risk to her....and maybe to me :-)

[papabear]

Thanks, Just wanted to know!

[TwT]

the more you look and as time passes, you will learn what to look for (the frame with eggs or the frames beside the frame with eggs, after a while you can just look at a frame not individual bee's and she will just pop out to you) some say hold a frame and look down the frame and she is taller but I have never done this, sometimes I still cant find every queen but when I inspect I can fine most if not all, just gets easier with time, and yes single cell eggs is a good sign.... thats my 2 pennies worth!!!

[Michael Bush]

>What is the best and safest way to mark the queen?

Queen Catching and marking

Until you get the hang of it, there is always the risk of hurting the queen.  But learning to do it is a worthwhile undertaking.  I would buy a hair clip queen catcher and a marking tube and paint pens.  Practice on a few drones with a color from a couple of years ago so you don't confuse the drones with the queen.  Use the current color for the queen.

Marking tube:
http://www.beeequipment.com/products.asp?pcode=264

Hair Clip Queen Catcher:
http://www.beeequipment.com/products.asp?pcode=341

You can get paint pens at the hardware store or from bee supply houses.


A queen muff is a very nice thing to have as the queen can't fly off while your learning how to do it:

http://www.beeequipment.com/products.asp?pcode=264M

My preferred method is to buy a “hair clip” queen catcher and a marking tube and a marking pen.  Catch the queen gently with the hair clip.  It is spaced so as not to easily harm the queen, but still be careful.  Now take the marking tube and slid out the plunger.  If you move away from the hive you can lose some of the bees that are in and on the clip.  Don’t shake it while holding the clip portion or you may shake the queen out. If you take it in a bathroom with a window and turn off the lights you can be more assured she won't fly off.  Use a brush or a feather and brush off the workers as they come out and then try to guide the queen into the tube.  She tends to go up and she tends to go for the light, so open the clip so she will run into the tube.  If she doesn’t and she runs onto your hand or glove, don’t panic, just quickly drop the clip and gently but quickly put the tube over her.  Cover the tube with your hand to block the light so she runs to the top of the tube.  Put the plunger in.  Be quick but don’t hurry too much.  Gently pin the queen to the top of the marking tube and touch a small dot of paint (start the paint pen on a piece of wood or paper first so there is paint in the tip already) on the middle of the back of her thorax right between her wings.  If it doesn’t look big enough just leave it.  You need to keep her pinned for several more seconds while you blow on the paint to dry it.  Don’t let her go too soon or the paint will get smeared into the joint between her body sections and it may cripple or kill her.  After the paint is dry (20 seconds or so) back the plunger up to halfway so the queen can move.  Pull the plunger and aim the open end to the top bars and the queen will usually run right back down into the hive.

International Standard Queen marking colors:
Years ending in 1 or 6 – White
Years ending in 2 or 7 – Yellow
Years ending in 3 or 8 – Red
Years ending in 4 or 9 – Green
Years ending in 5 or 0 – Blue

[papabear]

Thanks for the help

[Michael Bush]

BTW, with your fingers is the "traditional" method and it's not hard to learn by practicing on drones either.  But it does take some practice.

Try pining the drone (and later the queen) onto the comb with the tip of your pointer finger.  Just put it in the middle of their back.  Then as you work your thumb into place and your finger over slightly get so you have a tent over the bee.  Then grasp it from each side of the thorax.  The trick is learning to press hard enough without going too hard.  If you kill a drone, you won't set the hive back much, so practice until you can catch and manipulate the drone without injuring it.

Then you're ready for a queen.  :)