Three weeks later I found it......

[oliver90owner]

Lost my cotton thread one last year, so I bought two more - lucky to find the cotton ones. After a month or so, the old one turned up in the sole of my boot. The rims of all are now painted bright pink. I try to keep one in a tin in the pocket of my bee suit. However I often find one on the roof of a hive at the next visit and the tin is empty. If looking for a queen I will get it out ready and place it on the roof of next hive.

Bright yellow is a better colour! Well, it is for those of us that are red/green colourblind.

That was one reason why I always marked my queens with yellow tippex - I would have little chance of locating a red queen by just looking for the colour.