Omg queen marking

[Mickyboy]

Hi

My first attempt of queen marking ! , I found my queen an place to ring of thorns over her and got my pen ready but when I squeezed it covered her with green ink all over her back wings and part of her head . Will she survive or will the ink harm her


Advise needed
Thx

 

[itma]

Nothing you can do at this point.

She should be easy to spot at the next inspection - if you don't see her, then expect there to be emergency QCs (so don't shake any frames until you know she is OK).



It is a really good idea to get an extra pen in a non-standard colour (like Orange or Gold) and practice on (low importance) Drones BEFORE a first attempt on an important (possibly valuable) Queen.
Naturally, you want to use the odd colour to ensure that you don't ever confuse a marked Drone for Q herself ...


You can find the right type of Posca pen on eBay in a wide range of colours (and cheaper than bee suppliers offer them).

/// PS with the Posca pens, don't "squeeze" them. On an unimportant surface, press down on the pen point to get a drop of paint before pointing it at a bee, then just 'paint' it on gently.

 

[Mickyboy]

Hi

Thanks I will have to wait and see , when would do the next inspection

Thx

 

[kighill]

Whenever I mark a queen I press the pen on my hand first to prevent a flood of paint onto the queen.
I only wear surgical gloves, however if you wear gauntlets just dab onto a frame first.
I also learnt this the hard way!
Good luck on the next one.

 

[Mickyboy]

hi did ur queen survive ?

 

[hedgehog66]

I marked a queen 3 weeks ago. Red pen flooded all over her
Spotted her yesterday, no mistake !!!!!
Head, winds, thorax - suprised there wern't red eggs !!!!!
It also went all over my new sheriff suit, not impressed.....

 

[jonnybeegood]

It also helps if you can have the queen vertical on a cage frame or in a queen marking trap & hold the pen horizontally rather than above the queen. Then you "paint" with the tip of the pen rather than a splodge.

 

[Erichalfbee]

Always dab the marker lightly on the hive or somewhere to make sure there is no flood of paint.
I don't like the crown of thorns, I've seen queens faint in them.
.....I use one of those plunger cage markers.

 

[Glenviewbee]

I did exactly the same a few weeks ago - didn't have much hope for my now pretty much completely white queen - when I left her she was being tended to by workers but she was lying on her side sort of curled up
However the next week there she was marching across a newly laid up frame!
I used a plunger cage, and did try and pre-splurge the pen, but didn't think through the impact of gravity when marking her. On reflecting on the experience I came to the conclusion I would try marking when she was above the pen. I'm going to practice on a few drones first though.

 

[Mickyboy]

Thanks everyone for you help , I felt really bad when I did it . By the sound of things there may be a chance she will be ok . I will keep you posted on my next inspection

 

[For want of a better word]

I marked a queen 3 weeks ago. Red pen flooded all over her
Spotted her yesterday, no mistake !!!!!
Head, winds, thorax - suprised there wern't red eggs !!!!!
It also went all over my new sheriff suit, not impressed.....

Shows the age of your suit when you have a full set of colours + pink! on your suit... Posca does not fade!!!
Not that it matters as perhaps like me you are lacking in the cone area... but was not last years queens green?


Yeghes da

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

I don't like the crown of thorns, I've seen queens faint in them.
.....I use one of those plunger cage markers.

I find the COT far less of a faff, with a plunger cage, you have to chase the queen around to get her in, with COT, you just place it loosely over the queen, she'll then just stop scuttling around so much, can move it a bit so it's on a better surface, you wait a few seconds and most of the other bees clear out, you then just gently press to hold her, after marking lift the cage enough to take the pressure off and leave her wander around in there until the paint is dry. I find with the plunger it's easy to apply too much pressure, you then have to hold it one-handed (still keeping the pressure on) while you faff around with the pen. I've had a queen faint once with a crown ot thorns - still there this year though, but still a lot less stress IMHO than the plunger and other methods.
I've just caught them with my fingers before now, but a combination of carpal tunnel syndrome and eyes shot to bits make me think twice about it now.

 

[For want of a better word]

How do you get the wing clippers through the COT

Still got a "manteau" mark on my knee from one of the old steel ones!

Yeghes da

 

[Thymallus]

if you wiggle it around a bit you can usually get a wing slid through above the mesh and clip there......however I usually have to re-mesh the COT once or twice a season due to cak handedness.

 

[snelgrove]

Always a danger of to much ink when using these new pens. My old teacher wen I started used humbrol and a blade of grass, which I did for a number of years .

 

[hedgehog66]

Shows the age of your suit when you have a full set of colours + pink! on your suit... Posca does not fade!!!
Not that it matters as perhaps like me you are lacking in the cone area... but was not last years queens green?


Yeghes da

only have a red pen so all queens are red, whether they like it or not, although most look good in red
looking forward to a harliquin sherrif suit, maybe starting a trend

 

[YorkshireBees]

I don't use the pen direct. I have an old wooden box that I keep the pens / paint in and cof and one of those small 'bookies' biros in.

Dab the paint / pen on the inside of the box and put the nib of the biro in it then mark the queen.

Find this much easier / safer than a flood of paint!

 

[B+.]

Hi

My first attempt of queen marking ! , I found my queen an place to ring of thorns over her and got my pen ready but when I squeezed it covered her with green ink all over her back wings and part of her head . Will she survive or will the ink harm her


Advise needed
Thx

If you let the queen go back into the hive straight away, the workers will clean her up. Posca dries pretty quickly so you have to realease her straight away

 

[Mickyboy]

If you let the queen go back into the hive straight away, the workers will clean her up. Posca dries pretty quickly so you have to realease her straight away

Luckily I did, but I tried to dab her with a tissue first

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Had a bit of a calamity a few years back - new pen and trying out one of them 'mark and turn' plunger affairs; a combination of a great gobbet of paint coming out and the queen squirming - she was plastered in yellow - wings, head, thorax legs and abdomen. Rather than faff around I just let her scuttle back down the frames - next inspection there she was perfectly cleaned up - the bees had even considered me and had left a perfect round dot of paint on her back! still going strong on eleven frames wall to wall brood at the moment.