Seeing red

[For want of a better word]

I am totally baffled... saw a drone with a RED dot on its back in hive this morning !

 

[testka]

I am totally baffled... saw a drone with a RED dot on its back in hive this morning !

I've seen load recently in our divisional apiary after the queen marking session - Yep done on drones

 

[ultreen1]

Our association marks drones as a training exercise for marking queens. Wonder where little old red came from?!

 

[victor meldrew]

I am totally baffled... saw a drone with a RED dot on its back in hive this morning !

Drones are welcome in any hive this time of year the red spotted one is someone's this years marking practice
VM


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk

 

[REDWOOD]

From The Red Planet hard to resist

 

[Finman]

.
One bee breeder told that he has marked drones. He said that drones change hive very easy.

Bees were marked in Finnish archipelago. One marked worker was found 11 km far away in another hive .

 

[lorrick]

We where marking drones on our Bee Keeping course last Thursday, but I don't think it is one of mine unless it has flown down from Suffolk

 

[itma]

Drones are welcome in any hive this time of year the red spotted one is someone's this years marking practice

Definitely a good idea to practice marking on drones.

But it makes even more sense to use a non-standard colour.
Posca pens come in lots more colours, and cheaper, on eBay than from bee-equipment suppliers.

 

[REDWOOD]

.
One bee breeder told that he has marked drones. He said that drones change hive very easy.

Bees were marked in Finnish archipelago. One marked worker was found 11 km far away in another hive .

That must have been some special queen

 

[pargyle]

That must have been some special queen

This conjours up a whole new game ... a bit like when, as a kid, we used to tie labels to balloons and send them off ... and hopefully get a message back from some far flung place (Bridlington or Cleethorpes) ... well it was South Yorkshire ... so, colour your drones with your own particular marking and see where they turn up ... prize for the furthest travelled ! Better than pigeon racing ...

 

[alldigging]

This conjours up a whole new game ... a bit like when, as a kid, we used to tie labels to balloons and send them off ... and hopefully get a message back from some far flung place (Bridlington or Cleethorpes) ... well it was South Yorkshire ... so, colour your drones with your own particular marking and see where they turn up ... prize for the furthest travelled ! Better than pigeon racing ...

Indeed. We'd just need a humbrol paint chart with our names on

 

[Tabby15]

What colour do I mark the queen that I took with a swarm a fortnight ago? I have read about marking her silver by those who have lots of queens and know what they are doing. Do I mark her red even though she may be older? I do need to mark her as I am a new bee and whilst i have seen her once, it will make it much easier to spot her.

 

[itma]

The Posca pens are made in more than a dozen colours.

With a few colonies, you should be able to remember each q's history. Nevertheless, written records are preferable to relying on memory.
Using particular colours should not be the principal means of recording the q's age. And so its no drama to use a 'wrong' colour.

In your apiary, you could adopt whatever coding scheme you wanted, even having every q a different colour, and marking any supercedure daughters differently to mum.
Its up to you to choose what you want to do!
But if you sell queens, nucs or colonies, then you might be expected to be somewhat conventional!

 

[VEG]

What colour do I mark the queen that I took with a swarm a fortnight ago? I have read about marking her silver by those who have lots of queens and know what they are doing. Do I mark her red even though she may be older? I do need to mark her as I am a new bee and whilst i have seen her once, it will make it much easier to spot her.

Mark her any colour you like. I mark all my queens with a very bright pink and just make a note in a book what year she is. No need to have a load of pens that wont get much use.

 

[MJBee]

Pocsa pens do seem to last. 5 years so far as I am using the red one for the second season.

 

[Erichalfbee]

I mark all my queens with a very bright pink and just make a note in a book what year she is.

That's not a bad idea
Last year I found drones with yellow and red spots in my boxes...turns out somebody a quarter of a mile away had been practicing!

 

[oliver90owner]

That's not a bad idea

I'm meaning coloured drones. Just as long as they are all coloured with next year's colour or something entirely different than the last four. Otherwise it is a good way to befuddle the local beekeeepers who have their queens marked in year colours. It might still befuddle those that only use a single colour.

There again, some who are mischievous might think it a good idea...

 

[galileo]

Green would be good this year. Any green dotted drones will be long gone by the time green dotted queens are scampering about.

(not you, Keith P )

 

[Tabby15]

Mark her any colour you like. I mark all my queens with a very bright pink and just make a note in a book what year she is. No need to have a load of pens that wont get much use.

Whilst that appeals to my girlie nature shouldn't we stick to convention? I just can't find one for swarm queens.

 

[Swarm]

Whilst that appeals to my girlie nature shouldn't we stick to convention? I just can't find one for swarm queens.

It appeals more to my eyes. The conventional colours can be a pain, bright pink is very easy to see by comparison. Try it on your swarm queen.


edit: Saw a white drone in mine today.