Queen Finding.

[kazmcc]

As usual, lots of advice to go away and work with. Thanks everyone. Thing is, this Madge needs finding as she does seema bit droney, and her pattern is a bit peppery. She's adequate lets say and but may need requeening. So better seek her out. Do freshly mated virgins need time to settle into a pattern....is that why our mentor says she may need replacing?

 

[milkermel]

A couple of weeks back I was on a bee stand at a local garden centre open day. Person whose bees they were couldnt make the first day but knew people loved to see her observation hive, so i went along to make sure girls didnt get too hot.

Unfortuneatly her queen wasnt marked so I spent the day finding her!! Each time a new batch of people wanted to see the queen I had to spend time re finding her! Interesting how some found her easily whilst others couldnt see her even when pointed out.

 

[simonf]

Recently while looking through 2 hives in my garden I found both queens, tried in vain on numerous occations before that, they say once you have found 1 you find it easier, it works for me, I dont go in looking for her now she just appears, she hides, always in the shade, she changes from one side of the comb to the other very quickly. Now I must pluck up the courage to clip and mark them.

 

[BILL.HEARD]

I would go with DanBee as far as finding queens are concerned, after opening a number of colonies over a number of years you get a feeling as to the likely comb the queen will be on.
f you can't find her and you really need to its sometimes better to close the hive up after a while and leave it for another day.

 

[steve_e]

I'd be interested in hearing people's favoured way of making the Queen safe once you've found her. If you've got other things to do before closing back up again, do you:

• Use one of those plastic queen catchers, a matchbox, or which device.
• Leave her somewhere inside the BB while doing the rest of your work or put her in a pocket.
• Let her continue running around and hope she doesn't come to any harm during the rest of your manipulation.
• Try to keep the light off her to avoid distressing her
• Anything else to think about

It might seem obvious, but when I have found her I always have the same discussion with myself and am never quite sure of the best way to secure her. One part of me wonders if the other bees will get upset very quickly if you have some other work to do and her pheromones disappear if you remove her from the hive. But it's quite difficult to find a stable place to put her inside the hive.

 

[aberreef]

I came across this website this morning which has a lot of helpfull info on queen finding http://www.gbbg.net/findmarkclip.html

 

[RoseCottage]

Depends upon what we are doing. Usual day to day brood examinations we note the frame and try to be as gentle as possible. No need to grab her really. She can be a fast mover so you just have to accept your sharing the workspace and be careful.

For marking we prefer to use a crown of thorns and so again try to avoid removing her.

I'm sure she's quite robust but we are quite clumsy so if there's no need to handle her we won't.

If she is in your pocket I doubt her pheromone will wear off too quickly, certainly I would expect it to last the length of a manipulation.

All the best,
Sam

 

[Erichalfbee]

I keep a spare nuc box and pop the frame in.
Then I can do what I need to in the rest of the box without worry.
I moved a hive over once and shook and brushed all the bees off looking for queen cells.
I left the floor on the original site....numbskull!!!
I had to rescue quite a few nurse bees from the grass below the hive stand.
Thank God the queen was safe in her nuc.

 

[steve_e]

Thanks for those tips. I like the idea of using a nuc box - nice and dark and self-contained, for someone as clumsy and forgetful as me!

 

[enrico]

I'd be interested in hearing people's favoured way of making the Queen safe once you've found her. If you've got other things to do before closing back up again, do you:

• Use one of those plastic queen catchers, a matchbox, or which device.
• Leave her somewhere inside the BB while doing the rest of your work or put her in a pocket.
• Let her continue running around and hope she doesn't come to any harm during the rest of your manipulation.
• Try to keep the light off her to avoid distressing her
• Anything else to think about

It might seem obvious, but when I have found her I always have the same discussion with myself and am never quite sure of the best way to secure her. One part of me wonders if the other bees will get upset very quickly if you have some other work to do and her pheromones disappear if you remove her from the hive. But it's quite difficult to find a stable place to put her inside the hive.

I've found the best thing to use as a marker is eco tippex. It comes with a really soft triangular pad on the end, dries really quickly, seems to cause no discomfort and stays on there for a couple of years. the only drawback is it only comes in white ... but that's OK for this year!!
E

 

[Erichalfbee]

Queen on her frame in nuc box, as above, if I have to do much more than a quick look.
All my queens are white, easy to see and hive notes will tell me how old she is.

 

[whizzwheels]

I've been trying to find the queen in my hive all year and don't think I saw her last year either after I introduced her to the hive.
Just been out to check on the hive and second frame I pulled out there she was boldly walking around the frame in plain view.
Only went to do a quick check and to add a super, didn't bother to use a smoker so maybe this had something to do with it as she wasn't expecting me.