Queen Marking

[John_W]

markers

Those marker pens, need a good shake before use.

Also, pushing the tip in, a few times helps prevent dried paint from preventing a good flow if the pen has not been used in a while.
If you don't shake it, the paint/carrier liquids in the pen seperate, and so you get poor adhesion and more flaking when it dries.

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Those marker pens, need a good shake before use.

Just remember to leave the lid firmly on when you do Helping someone in the association apiary last year, said 'don't forget to shake the p....... '
Luckily i had a white bee suit

 

[Headnavigator]

Those marker pens, need a good shake before use.

Also, pushing the tip in, a few times helps prevent dried paint from preventing a good flow if the pen has not been used in a while.
If you don't shake it, the paint/carrier liquids in the pen seperate, and so you get poor adhesion and more flaking when it dries.

These pens can be a bit dribbly too. To avoid a half-drowned queen transfer a dob of paint from pen to a spent matchstick, and use that to mark HM.

 

[MJBee]

These pens can be a bit dribbly too. To avoid a half-drowned queen transfer a dob of paint from pen to a spent matchstick, and use that to mark HM.

Good tip - I have a couple of queens with beautifully marked thorax AND wings It will be interesting to see if it effects swarming - not that I intend to let them

 

[Joseph]

I painted this Queen with a Posca last June. She still has her white blob. I buy my Posca pens off of ebay for a few quid.

 

[Into the lions den]

Dont use any of the above.

For marking we use car touch up paint from Halfords, and you get a great big bottle with a brush in cap for not a lot of money from the desk where they mix the paint to code. You get some funny looks when explaining that you are not looking for a particular paint code and have to explain to the rather over trained and under bright youth behind the counter what you want it for and why it does not matter that it does not match a 1993 Toyota Corolla or whatever.

Anyway, careful with the paint amount, little spot on the thorax, touch the dab with your fingertip, and just drop the queen straight back into the hive. Sorted.....never comes off.

No cages used in this process, and all the staff are trained to do it properly, training takes all of about ........5 minutes?

My staff DO like the crown of thorns cage for working the hive during swarn control work, to make sure the Q does not 'leg it' whilst they are sorting out the rest of the colony. Its only a serious problem when the weather is VERY warm and the Q runs faster than normal. I buy a number of them every year and their use is optional. To me its yet another gadget, of which I use as few as possible.