Swarm - marking the queen

[Motobiman]

I have been reading the Dave Cushman website with updates from Roger Patterson.
In the section dealing with hiving a swarm he mentions having marked the queen before hiving.
How IHN do you find and catch her maj in the swarm to mark her?

 

[B+.]

How IHN do you find and catch her maj in the swarm to mark her?

If you put a ramp infront of the hive and dump the swarm at the base, they will run up the ramp and fan the others into their new home. Catch the queen as she runs up the ramp

 

[Motobiman]

Hmm that's what I thought, thanks.

 

[enrico]

But try not to do it with casts as marked virgin queens are not a good idea!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Yet B+ mark all his virgins ASAP so maybe another myth?

 

[enrico]

Could be, never tried it so.......unfortunately I have followed myths for years.....so don't know if they are myths or not!

 

[jenkinsbrynmair]

Could be, never tried it so.......unfortunately I have followed myths for years.....so don't know if they are myths or not!

I'm in the same camp as you on this one - have had enough problems finding mated queens the last year let alone virgins!! and never felt tempted to to faff around with walking them in - just a bit of showmanship and that's it.

 

[Dadnlad]

I have been reading the Dave Cushman website with updates from Roger Patterson.
In the section dealing with hiving a swarm he mentions having marked the queen before hiving.
How IHN do you find and catch her maj in the swarm to mark her?

Depending on whether prime with laying Q or not, surely easier to wait until she's laying on lovely fresh foundation ?

Last week we were lucky to retrieve a prime swarm from a hive that I hadn't seen the Q since last summer and hived them on fresh foundation. On inspecting this weekend, the middle 2 frames were part drawn, she was laying, and we spotted her straight away - so much easier to spot against a yellow background (and half the bees)

 

[B+.]

just a bit of showmanship and that's it.

but, the man asked the question so I gave him an answer

With respect to my marking virgins straight from the incubator, you have to remember that some of these will be instrumentally inseminated so will never fly.
I am also going to clip a wing on my island mated queens from now on after having an opilath plate fall off (the rule in BeeBreed is that you have to have positive assurance that you are evaluating the same queen or the results are no longer valid).

 

[Poly Hive]

I used to mark virgins and as far as i could tell it made no odds.

I will also be honest and say that I have never spotted a queen walking up a ramp. I would get her a few days later when she was back in lay.

PH

 

[B+.]

I will also be honest and say that I have never spotted a queen walking up a ramp.

I've caught a few queens before taking the swarm ...pop them into a Nicot cage and shake the swarm into the box...the bees go in pretty quickly (unless its a cast with multiple queens)

 

[B+.]

I used to mark virgins and as far as i could tell it made no odds.

I mark them with numbered plastic disks so that I can tie the queen back to my records but this is a bit different to the OP question

 

[Cazza]

Ditto, only ever once spotted one. If I did I'd leave her alone and let her get in the hive rather than messing her about.
Cazza

 

[kighill]

I have marked virgin queens when I spot them going up the ramp into the new hive. I hived a swarm this afternoon and spotted the queen going in.
I stopped doing this last year when I spotted the virgin queen from a hard won swarm. I failed to grasp her twice by which time she was fed up and took to the air taking the bees with her.
I now usually mark when the queen is well in lay. If I have the patience I wait until I have sealed brood.