Mistake of the week!

[Etton]

Clipped the wings of a virgin!

 

[Erichalfbee]

Sorry
How long you been keeping bees?

I trust you will take this the right way Etton

 

[Horseradish]

Over protective father..

 

[jeff33]

Gutted but it does happen and its also easily done to damage a good queen with clipping which is why I have never bothered with it.

 

[youngyoungs]

Clipped the wings of a virgin!

Dowsed one with blue colouring during marking. Paint flooded out of the pen.... GRRR

 

[Etton]

About 5 years experience and still learning. Had two queens, one mated and one just emerged from my incubator and after marking, without thinking, I clipped wings on both queens. Tried to stick them back on without success!!

 

[GuyNir]

Tried to stick them back on without success!!

There’s always the super vet option.

 

[pargyle]

About 5 years experience and still learning. Had two queens, one mated and one just emerged from my incubator and after marking, without thinking, I clipped wings on both queens. Tried to stick them back on without success!!

Wise after the event should be my middle name ... sharing the stupidity of our more idiotic actions is, however, very cathartic ... I usually find that I am not alone as others creep out of the woodwork with similar stories - just needed a bit of encouragement to confess their sins !

Perhaps we need a permanent thread on here .. Confessions of a Beekeeper. Confessions only ... comments and suggestions of penance not permitted !

 

[Bear]

Good for a practice! In the future with mated queens!!!

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Wise after the event should be my middle name ... sharing the stupidity of our more idiotic actions is, however, very cathartic ... I usually find that I am not alone as others creep out of the woodwork with similar stories - just needed a bit of encouragement to confess their sins !

Perhaps we need a permanent thread on here .. Confessions of a Beekeeper. Confessions only ... comments and suggestions of penance not permitted !

Are window cleaners or taxi drivers allowed to contribute?

 

[The Poot in Somerset]

About 5 years experience and still learning. Had two queens, one mated and one just emerged from my incubator and after marking, without thinking, I clipped wings on both queens. Tried to stick them back on without success!!

I find gorilla tape excellent....

 

[pargyle]

Are window cleaners or taxi drivers allowed to contribute?

In our current politically correct society I don't think you are even allowed to think about those confessions these days ... let alone let them out into the open. I cringe when I think of what they were like ...

 

[ericbeaumont]

Clipped the wings of a virgin!

I once went further and included a leg on a recently mated Q. Predictably, they superseded her; since then I've made sure to wait another second or so and move that leg out of the way.

 

[Jeff Buzz]

Dowsed one with blue colouring during marking. Paint flooded out of the pen.... GRRR

I covered one in white Poca marker all over the wings and back. I thought whoops I will need a new queen in here very soon but she is still laying like mad and hive doing well.
Bonus is she is very easy to spot you could see her 20ft away

 

[Newbeeneil]

I once went further and included a leg on a recently mated Q. Predictably, they superseded her; since then I've made sure to wait another second or so and move that leg out of the way.

I took the leg off a queen and expected them to supercede her, but she carried on for another 18 months and was henceforth know as "hop-a-long"

 

[Bubbs]

I am very new to bee keeping, just a few months. How do you know if your Queen is a virgin or mated?

 

[pargyle]

I am very new to bee keeping, just a few months. How do you know if your Queen is a virgin or mated?

Virgins tend to be a little slimmer than a mated queen .. but unless you know what has been happening in the hive .., viz: whether you are EXPECTING a virgin to be in there - nigh impossible.

The only real way you can tell when your queen is mated is when you see eggs and capped worker brood.

 

[Swn58]

Are window cleaners or taxi drivers allowed to contribute?

I've never felt that it is right to clip a queens wings, so don't do it. I have dowsed a new queen with ink on more than one occasion though. I now have a marking system that uses little dots. Much safer!

 

[ericbeaumont]

I've never felt that it is right to clip a queens wings, so don't do it.

How long are your fingernails?

 

[Niv]

How long are your fingernails?

Not agreeing or disagreeing with queen clipping but that's hardly a like for like comparison .