Author Topic: Marking a queen with paint (Read 35580 times)

Jen · « **on:** January 31, 2014, 09:08:47 pm »

Does anyone know how to do this? Sure would expedite our time if we could spot her quickly.

For those of you who have had ample time with other beeks and finding their queens.... I would love an opportunity like that

iddee · « **Reply #1 on:** January 31, 2014, 09:35:18 pm »

There has been much posting about picking up queens. I never pick one up to mark her. I use this little gadget.

http://www.kelleybees.com/Shop/21/Queens-Bees/Queen-Rearing/4737/Queen-Marking-Tube-Only

I herd her into it, slowly push her up just until she is immobile, and mark her through the screen. Let it dry for a minute or so, then release her. I never touch her.

Jen · « **Reply #2 on:** January 31, 2014, 10:37:54 pm »

Nice!

skydiver · « **Reply #3 on:** January 31, 2014, 10:51:36 pm »

iddees tube works well. The other way is by picking her up by the wings near the ends of them so you do not hurt them then take your other hand and let the queen use her legs to grab your index finger then lightly hold her with you thumb and index finger by her legs let go of wings and mark here with your now free hand. Just practice on drones until you are comfortable then grab the queen. But mark the drones with a color not used for queens for this year.

Jen · « **Reply #4 on:** January 31, 2014, 10:53:28 pm »

Hu! That's interesting, practise on drones! marvelous!

tefer2 · « **Reply #5 on:** January 31, 2014, 11:46:13 pm »

Mike will show you how it's done.

Edward · « **Reply #6 on:** January 31, 2014, 11:55:07 pm »

Heres an easy way to do it

mvh Edward

Edward · « **Reply #7 on:** February 01, 2014, 12:01:01 am »

Take your time and don´t forget to wipe the pen or paint brush of Before so you don't get too much paint on her.

mvh Edward

Jen · « **Reply #8 on:** February 01, 2014, 12:02:34 am »

Wow! Cool you guys.. Thanks

tecumseh · « **Reply #9 on:** February 01, 2014, 06:59:18 am »

nice video of marking a queen. pretty much how I do this..

robo · « **Reply #10 on:** February 01, 2014, 07:54:19 am »

I'm a by hand guy myself. I have tried those tube gadgets and find I need to put an uncomfortable amount of pressure on the queen to immobilize her. They are very squirmy so she has to be pinned down with her legs spread out beside her. It is almost like the last phase before she is squished. And then half the time it seemed like by the time I had the correct pressure to immobilize her, she had squirmed enough that her thorax was not lined up with the hole. I find it much less stressful on myself (and it appears the queen as well) to do it by hand. I know it can seem pretty daunting the first time you do it, but if you practice on drones first, you can be comfortable before doing a queen. Here is a video I put together many years ago.

Edward · « **Reply #11 on:** February 01, 2014, 07:47:03 am »

Quote from: Robo on February 01, 2014, 07:35:52 am

I'm a by hand guy myself. I have tried those tube gadgets and find I need to put an uncomfortable amount of pressure on the queen to immobilize her. They are very squirmy so she has to be pinned down with her legs spread out beside her. It is almost like the last phase before she is squished. And then half the time it seemed like by the time I had the correct pressure to immobilize her, she had squirmed enough that her thorax was not lined up with the hole. I find it much less stressful on myself (and it appears the queen as well) to do it by hand. I know it can seem pretty daunting the first time you do it, but if you practice on drones first, you can be comfortable before doing a queen.

Beekeeping is fun

All the reasons you gave I Think the opposite

I´m always impressed by you guys that can handle the Queen tenderly with your fingers !

Sadly I'm not there yet

Maybee one day .

mvh Edward

iddee · « **Reply #12 on:** February 01, 2014, 07:52:57 am »

Ditto what edward said, other than, at my age, I'll never get there.

robo · « **Reply #13 on:** February 01, 2014, 08:02:54 am »

If everyone liked vanilla, they wouldn't make chocolate. Everyone has to determine their own comfort level and use what works best for them.

First comes marking queens by hand and next comes bee beards

Riverrat · « **Reply #14 on:** February 01, 2014, 08:28:13 am »

I don't mark queens unless its in an OB hive and I'm headed out to sell honey or give a talk with the hive. They bee almost always groom off the marking over time

robo · « **Reply #15 on:** February 01, 2014, 09:07:21 am »

Quote from: MinnieMo on February 01, 2014, 08:28:13 am

They bee almost always groom off the marking over time

I guess it all depends on what is used to mark them. If one uses white-out, which is often recommended, then yes, the workers will groom it off the queen. But I have never had any issue with the POSCA medium tipped water-based paint pens. I have had many queen go 3-4 years without any noticeable degradation of the color. Another key point is to let the paint dry before releasing her back into the hive. Workers will make quick work of grooming wet paint of of her.

The best place I have found for the POSCA pens is -> http://www.durablesupply.com/pospainmar.html

I also use a lot of the glue on numbered disc to keep better records of my rearing queens. These also hold up quite well.

tefer2 · « **Reply #16 on:** February 01, 2014, 09:24:00 am »

Rob, they do have a good price on their markers. What tip do you prefer?

robo · « **Reply #17 on:** February 01, 2014, 09:34:24 am »

Quote from: tefer2 on February 01, 2014, 09:24:00 am

Rob, they do have a good price on their markers. What tip do you prefer?

Medium tip. With all paint pens, make sure you dab them on something BEFORE marking the queen. Depending on the temperature, they may have pressure built up inside and you don't want to have paint gush out on your queen. That is why most of my hives have random colored paint dots on the covers. :-)

Sent from my YP-G70 using Tapatalk 2

apisbees · « **Reply #18 on:** February 03, 2014, 06:34:59 pm »

I don't mark a lot of queens only ones in observation hives but have always used paint pens I pick up at the welding supply store. It stays on till the day she dies. But blot the tip so you don't get paint running down the side of the queen.

tecumseh · « **Reply #19 on:** February 04, 2014, 05:45:44 am »

well most of the queens I buy are marked and most of the ones I produce myself also get marked. I use a variety of manufactures pens but they are you basic paint pen which you can obtain either thru a bee supply house or a hobby store. I most definitely like the hobby store variety since these also come in a wide assortment of colors. I am not at all married to the idea of using the international color except on queens I buy < so actually here I maintain a dual color system.

I have noticed directly that YES the bees will scrub off the color dot from time to time. in the past I have heard respected beekeepers suggest that this may be somewhat correlated with the hygienic character of a group of bees. some people think the following statement is odd > I have noted that for some reason the color red seems to get scrubbed off more and quicker than the other four colors. my academic boss raises her eye brows when I tell this little story and I suspect this could be a matter of the formulation of the red paint or how the bees perceived this color.

I have seen some bees scrub off this color dot in less than a weeks time. the first time I noticed this at first I though premature superscedure but then realized not enough time had passed for that to have happened and then when I looked at that queen a bit closer realized the fuzzy edges of the red dot were still there (looked a bit like one of those pictures of the corona of the sun).