Find out how to safely mark a queen bee in order that you understand how outdated she is and to extra simply establish her right through periodic hive wellness exams.

My beehive journey continues following the requeening of my beehive and the premature retirement of her predecessor, Aurora.

It was once time to mark the brand new queen, which I aptly named Scarlett. You’re going to to find out why under!

There are a few primary advantages to taking the time to mark the queen of a bee colony, specifically for a brand new beekeeper like me nonetheless finding out the ropes!

Marked Queens Are More straightforward to To find

First, marking the queen makes it a lot more uncomplicated to search out her right through common beehive exams.

Whilst you take away a panel out of your beehive to test for wholesome ranges of nectar, pollen and larva, discovering the queen generally is a problem with actually hundreds of bees shifting round!

Whilst the queen is bigger than the employee bees and drones, marking her with a tiny dot at the dorsal aspect of her higher stomach makes it a miles more uncomplicated procedure!

Colour Signifies Queen Bee’s Age

Secondly, if in case you have more than one beehives (I intend to develop my colonies past simply the only I’ve now), it is very important mark the queens so you understand how outdated every one is.

Queen bees usually reside for roughly 2-3 years.

Thus, the colour of the queen’s marking makes it simple to determine how outdated she is and what the time-frame may well be for her endured productiveness throughout the bee colony.

Which Colour to Use? Queen Bee Colour Marking Information

For instance, this 12 months…2023…is a crimson 12 months for queen bees. Therefore, the title of my new queen…Scarlett!

Which means that queens born right through this 12 months must be marked with a crimson dot.

You will need to to ONLY use unhazardous paint specifically designed for bees for marking the queen.

By no means ever use nail polish or a sharpie which might be toxic to her.

Here’s a emblem of unhazardous bee pens to make use of this is risk free to her and the hive.

Along with unhazardous queen marking pens, you’ll desire a queen marking instrument to soundly include her right through the method.

In abstract, the 12 months a queen bee is born determines what colour she is marked with.

• White: Queens born in years that finish with 1 and six are marked with a white dot.
• Yellow: Queens born in years that finish with 2 and seven are marked with a yellow dot.
• Pink: Queens born in years that finish with 3 and eight are marked with a crimson dot.
• Inexperienced: Queens born in years that finish with 4 and 9 are marked with a inexperienced dot.
• Blue: Queens born in years that result in 0 and 5 are marked with a blue dot.

Find out how to Mark the Queen Bee

Upon getting your queen marking cage and unhazardous marking pens, you are prepared to put a dot for your queen bee!

Underneath is a video of the three-step procedure that Beekeeper John of Gem Apiaries, taught me for secure and easy marking of the queen in my beehive.

• Gently seize the queen from a beehive body within the queen marking instrument.
• Slowly scale back the quantity of house that the queen has to transport round.
• As soon as the queen is obtainable during the openings at the most sensible of the marking instrument, use the proper colour of unhazardous bee pen to put a dot on her higher stomach (dorsal aspect).

See the method spread within the brief video under!