One handed queen catcher

[pargyle]

Steel spikes are great... leave a nice pattern in your knee should you kneel on it!

Yes ... they can be equally painful if you put them loose in your beesuit pocket and forget they are there ... I have a nice little plastic box that fits the COT to perfection and I always make sure it goes back into it before storing it... one of my beekeeping friends has a nice little tin (pre-war I reckon) that had some sort of cough sweets in it which I covet ....

 

[madasafish]

Steel spikes are great... leave a nice pattern in your knee should you kneel on it!

I implant my COT into a small square of 25mm insulation board - when not in use.

Makes handling a COT in a toolbox much safer. And aids finding it...both the square and the rim of the COT are painted white (I have a Thornes one - as above the cheap ones are not worth having)

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

My COT spends the whole season in a little metal tin in my beesuit pocket together with that season's and last season's marking pen.
Gutted when early on last season I'd left the first one I'd ever bought on the side of a hive after marking the queen then knocked it into the long grass and brambles below the hives, I look every time I check that apiary, but still no sign.
Agree with others, don't buy cheapos, not even the 'proper' wood and steel spike ones that don't come from Thornes. I've noticed the mesh on some of those are from thick fishing line type material not the thread that Thornes use.

 

[masterBK]

The last time I lost my COT in the vegetation around the hive I searched thoroughly but couldn't find it so ordered a replacement. However I later discovered the missing item embedded on the underside of a welly ! The thread was broken so rethreaded it using linen thread and find I prefer this to thin original stuff.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

The last time I lost my COT in the vegetation around the hive I searched thoroughly but couldn't find it so ordered a replacement. However I later discovered the missing item embedded on the underside of a welly !

Unfortunately, in my case the apiary is at the foot of the rock that the castle stands on, the area around the hives is loose stone and boulders deposited there when the castle was slighted (albeit mostly grown over oer the centuries) so the COT probably fell through a gap between some of the stones.

 

[Curly green finger's]

They're so much more robust than we tend to think. But like anything, it's an unknown till we do it then it becomes common place.

Why do you keep workers in your pockets? Quaint Shropshire custom?

Workers that are picked up when there chilled i put them either in a match box or just in my hand and warm them in my pocket.. Should of been more clear.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Workers that are picked up when there chilled i put them either in a match box or just in my hand and warm them in my pocket.. Should of been more clear.

They warm up quicker if you pop them under your tongue

 

[Apple]

The last time I lost my COT in the vegetation around the hive I searched thoroughly but couldn't find it so ordered a replacement. However I later discovered the missing item embedded on the underside of a welly ! The thread was broken so rethreaded it using linen thread and find I prefer this to thin original stuff.

Lost my favorite J tool... been looking for it all season... even dragged my mighty marine magnet around the hives where I thought I had lost it.... should have known better as made of quality stainless steel!!!
Finally found it between the frame in a nuc!!
Nadelik Lowen

 

[Curly green finger's]

They warm up quicker if you pop them under your tongue

I'll follow your lead

 

[Gilberdyke John]

Either your hands or use a crown of Thornes - much less hassle and distress for the queen and bees as she never leaves the comb

A couple of years ago I had a couple of mid season weekend mentoring duties for our association newbies when one hive revealed a queen that had thus far avoided being found for marking. I fished out my crown of thorns from my top pocket where it lives alongside the current colour pen. The newbies had seen several queens caught and marked prior to this but they remarked on how simple, smooth and straightforward the COT method was compared to the tube and plunger they were shown prior to that. No fiddling about trying to scoop up the queen, no introducing the plunger and nervously trying to hold the queen steady without crushing and no risk of traumatic reintroduction to the hive.

 

[rolande]

Jon Getty had a video of one of his queens clambering into one of those tube plunger/marker things. Attracted by pheromones from previously marked queen's.

 

[Swarm]

My friend uses the one handed job, Mark, his is the blue one. He has used it with numbered discs as well, the queen holding grid is thinner and maybe more gentle than the rigid one on the plunger type cage. I've used the turn and mark type for a while and COT before that and both can be a PITA.
COT
Pop it over queen, press down to hold her, quick mark, let her dry etc. Sounds easy, it always is. Not so easy with nine million workers covering it, refusing to move and getting agitated, not to mention nine million more trapped in the cage with the queen.
Plunger types
Pop it over queen and wait for her to start climbing before adding plunger etc etc
She refuses to climb and runs in circles, instead you try to coral her and chase her into the tube. When all is done and you go to release her and the sponge stays in place, having come away from the plunger.
Hands on
Pick her up, hold her safely, mark and return. Far simpler.

 

[Michael Palmer]

When we were kids and asked Mom if we could eat the fried chicken with out hands, she always said, "God made fingers before forks"
My one handed queen catcher....

 

[Antipodes]

It's hard to catch a queen and workers bare handed....it needs practice. Does anyone attempt to catch a queen by the wings, front to back rather than side to side?

 

[Newbeeneil]

I do it just as Michael does it.

 

[Antipodes]

Like this....

 

[rook66]

Jon Getty had a video of one of his queens clambering into one of those tube plunger/marker things. Attracted by pheromones from previously marked queen's.

Interesting, I stopped using it, queens were being attacked when they were released.

 

[elainemary]

Agree Baldock cage is best -started with plastic, too easy to fall off - metal type with wooden rim v good. Tried one handed queen catcher and didn’t like it. Easy to trap queen in sliding plastic when closing, so moved back to Baldock. Marking on the comb seems far less stressful to her, the bees and me. See pics.
I clip my queens but only in the following spring when drones around, so the colony is v familiar with her & she’s easily replaced, as I had a balling incident. I clip by hand and did about 6 last year. I do think the one handed queen catcher could be useful to clip by gently moving the wing on one side through the slot, then clip. Anyone tried this?
Elaine

 

[Heather]

i feel the benefit of putting queen into a plunger to mark is that I can allow the marker paint to dry for a couple of minutes before I reintroduce her so she doesn't smell different, so get attacked.

 

[Murox]

i feel the benefit of putting queen into a plunger to mark is that I can allow the marker paint to dry for a couple of minutes before I reintroduce her so she doesn't smell different, so get attacked.

Makes some sense but when I read post number 37......................perhaps using the same plunger container repeatedly for different queens is an issue. I'm too fumble fingered these days to pick her up properly so I use the crown to corral her,