One of those gasp moments!

[neillsayers]

When I did inspection the other day I spotted one of my queens. This one is like a sneaky dark ninja, so I decided to mark her. I reached in and grabbed her wings with thumb and forefinger but she gave chase and I had to follow her around the comb for a minute. When I got her wings she was struggling like crazy while I was trying to set the comb down and switch hands. Well, I was concerned about getting rough and she got loose and fell to the ground!

GASP!

As calmly as I could I set the frame down, knelt to the ground and gently picked her up. Then I held her with my left as I had been shown and proceeded to give her a pretty little blue mark.  After the paint dried I set her on the top bars and she scurried away.  WHEW!

Thought I'd share.

[Perry]

You are not alone. I remember one time I dropped a queen and she fell onto the pallet my hive were sitting on and the next thing I saw was her scurry underneath the hive! I got down on my hands and knees and searched and searched for her with no luck. I even got a flashlight out of the toolbox to look for her under the pallet, still no luck. I had given up and was just hoping she would find her own way back into the hive when I noticed something on the leg of my suit. I guess when I first got down on my knees she had crawled unnoticed onto my leg.

[Wandering Man]

You are not alone. I remember one time I dropped a queen and she fell onto the pallet my hive were sitting on and the next thing I saw was her scurry underneath the hive! I got down on my hands and knees and searched and searched for her with no luck. I even got a flashlight out of the toolbox to look for her under the pallet, still no luck. I had given up and was just hoping she would find her own way back into the hive when I noticed something on the leg of my suit. I guess when I first got down on my knees she had crawled unnoticed onto my leg.

That's scary. Inches away from being squished by your knee! 

[Nugget Shooter]

  I would have let out more than a gasp, glad ya caught her and all is well. I have not attempted "queen grabbing" as yet to mark them.

[Lburou]

I know the feeling...Once, while installing a breeder queen -$200 + $48 shipping- she fell to the ground.  That was not a good feeling.  Happens to all of us eventually. 

[Jen]

Yaaay Neil! Proud of you! It's so scary, and yet so wonderful to hold a lovely queen. Much more confident now and making nicer dots too. I believe the first couple of tries I even held my breath and had a bit of a shake to my hands. But I have learned that queens are pretty sturdy creatures. I practiced a lot last year on drones and nuc queens, that hive looked like a Christmas tree last year 

Good Goin' 

[neillsayers]

You are not alone. I remember one time I dropped a queen and she fell onto the pallet my hive were sitting on and the next thing I saw was her scurry underneath the hive! I got down on my hands and knees and searched and searched for her with no luck. I even got a flashlight out of the toolbox to look for her under the pallet, still no luck. I had given up and was just hoping she would find her own way back into the hive when I noticed something on the leg of my suit. I guess when I first got down on my knees she had crawled unnoticed onto my leg.

That's scary. Inches away from being squished by your knee! 

That would have been really bad! I keep the beeyard raked to bare dirt so I did have my eye one her. Just need some more practice to get more confident and less shaky.

[Wandering Man]

That would have been really bad! I keep the beeyard raked to bare dirt so I did have my eye one her. Just need some more practice to get more confident and less shaky.

So you need to go out and practice picking up Drones or Workers?

The first I ever bought eaten by ants while I was busy looking for the old queen. 

[efmesch]

Though it's not the first choice anyone would want to make, if a queen flies away while manipulating her, just leave the hive open.  She's very likely to come home on her own after a few minutes.
I repeat--LIKELY, no guarantees given.