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safely mark a queen bee in order that you know the way outdated she is and to extra simply determine her throughout periodic hive wellness checks.
My beehive journey continues following the requeening of my beehive and the premature retirement of her predecessor, Aurora.
It was time to mark the brand new queen, which I aptly named Scarlett. You will see out why beneath!
There are a few main advantages to taking the time to mark the queen of a bee colony, notably for a brand new beekeeper like me nonetheless studying the ropes!
Marked Queens Are Simpler to Discover
First, marking the queen makes it a lot simpler to seek out her throughout common beehive checks.
While 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 transferring round!
Whereas the queen is bigger than the employee bees and drones, marking her with a tiny dot on the dorsal facet of her higher stomach makes it a a lot simpler course of!
Coloration Signifies Queen Bee’s Age
Secondly, you probably have a number of beehives (I intend to develop my colonies past simply the one I’ve now), it is very important mark the queens so you know the way outdated every one is.
Queen bees sometimes dwell for about 2-3 years.
Thus, the colour of the queen’s marking makes it straightforward to determine how outdated she is and what the timeframe is likely to be for her continued productiveness inside the bee colony.
Which Coloration to Use? Queen Bee Coloration Marking Information
For instance, this yr…2023…is a purple yr for queen bees. Therefore, the identify of my new queen…Scarlett!
Which means queens born throughout this yr ought to be marked with a purple dot.
It is extremely necessary 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 model of unhazardous bee pens to make use of that’s innocent to her and the hive.
Along with unhazardous queen marking pens, you will want a queen marking device to securely include her in the course of the course of.
In abstract, the yr a queen bee is born determines what shade she is marked with.
- White: Queens born in years that finish with 1 and 6 are marked with a white dot.
- Yellow: Queens born in years that finish with 2 and seven are marked with a yellow dot.
- Crimson: Queens born in years that finish with 3 and eight are marked with a purple dot.
- Inexperienced: Queens born in years that finish with 4 and 9 are marked with a inexperienced dot.
- Blue: Queens born in years that finish in 0 and 5 are marked with a blue dot.
Mark the Queen Bee
After you have your queen marking cage and unhazardous marking pens, you might be prepared to position a dot in your queen bee!
Under is a video of the three-step course of that Beekeeper John of Gem Apiaries, taught me for protected and easy marking of the queen in my beehive.
- Gently seize the queen from a beehive body within the queen marking device.
- Slowly cut back the quantity of area that the queen has to maneuver round.
- As soon as the queen is accessible by way of the openings on the highest of the marking device, use the suitable shade of unhazardous bee pen to position a dot on her higher stomach (dorsal facet).
See the method unfold within the quick video beneath!
