Queen Bee Marking Color Chart? The 165 New Answer

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Swarm control is one of the main reasons I tag my queens. Also, since I sell queens, I like to evaluate them before they reach the customer. If these queens are tagged during their rating period, they’ll be easier to find if they’re locked up before they reach the customer.

If a queen is untagged, there’s no real way of knowing if you’re dealing with your original queen from year to year, or even within a year. Queens swarm, they are supplanted, sometimes mother and daughter co-exist, any number of events can happen in a hive, and queen marking is key to keeping track. If you manage to manage swarms, you may end up with queens that are several years old. This is where the international color coding system can help. If a queen is marked as follows, you can tell what year it was installed.

Many beekeepers use crayons from the bee supplies catalog or even from the hardware store. I’ve heard of beekeepers successfully using nail polish, which I admit I used out of desperation one evening and it was a disaster. I found it difficult to control the amount of “color” given to the queen. The first queen I tagged ended up in a bloody mess. The bees didn’t like the smell either and ended up balling and killing them. Maybe I’m just not painting my nails enough, so I’m out of practice. Owning blue nail polish at all must have been one of my rare attempts at being trendy. The second queen was a little cleaner, but even though the paint was dry when I put her back in the hive, the bees definitely didn’t like the smell! Not that they particularly like the smell of the colored pencils, but this one was extreme. I was sure she would go down too, but she’s still alive and kicking the stick with her very poorly made sign. I think in the future I’ll just stick with the pens.

Some beekeepers, typically in queen production operations, choose the numbered discs, which are usually attached to the queen’s thorax with glue. I find these impractical for a minor operation. They are expensive and more time consuming to install than a paint dot. Also, I lost my record of breeder queens. I could only confirm that the breeder queen was my original queen because her wing was also clipped by the breeder. With paint it is true that paint wears off over time but generally if you look closely at the queen there is usually a little paint left confirming that it is your original queen. You can easily update the marker at any time.

I don’t clip queens’ wings. Aside from the “disc episode” where the truncation helped with identification, I just don’t get the point. You run the risk of maiming a queen if you cut her, and she will still try to attack you even though she can’t fly. If you’re lucky, you’ll find her on the ground with a ball of bees trying to swarm. However, most of the time we are unlucky. I find I have more success just trying to manage my bees properly.

– Laura Urban

You don’t need to see the queen during your weekly colony inspection. There are clues that are usually enough to tell you that the colony has queen rights. These include the general temperament and behavior of the colony, the presence of “polished” cells for the queen to lay eggs in, and of course, the presence of eggs.

Of these, temperament can be affected by weather or food availability and may therefore be less trustworthy.

And of course, eggs only say that the queen was present when they were laid… so sometime in the last three days.

seeing is believing

If you really want to be sure that a queen is present – for example, because you need to put her in a certain place for swarm control with an artificial Pagden swarm or the core method – then you have to find the queen.

I’ve discussed this before, so I won’t revisit the subject.

How can you make it easier to find them again after you find them?

Doing the obvious (pun intended) to mark them in a way that makes them distinctive. She will therefore be easy to spot among the thousands of her daughters milling around the hive.

There are other benefits of marking the queen.

The presence of a blob of color also provides some temporal information.

If you find an unmarked queen in a hive that you know was previously occupied by a marked queen, then:

the colony has swarmed and remade itself… and your inspections are too infrequent!

the marked queen was replaced. It is not uncommon to find an unmarked queen in a hive at the first inspection of the season, suggesting that the colony replaced the queen late in the previous year, or…

the paint is worn out 😉

If you use different color markers for different years, you can even determine the age of the queen.

Tipp-Ex, Humbrol or Posca

You mark the queen by putting a contrasting colored patch of paint on the top of her rib cage.

Tipp-Ex (writing correction liquid) works perfectly, although the usual applicator brush is a bit too wide. It dries quickly and the aliphatic hydrocarbon solvents it contains do not appear to adversely affect the queen’s odor.

Tipp-Ex is only available in white. Certainly to the contrary, but that gives no opportunity to indicate the year the queen was raised.

Alternatively, you can also use one of the approximately 180 Humbrol Enamel colors. These are used by model makers to paint their locomotives, toy soldiers or airfix kits and are therefore available in a variety of not very useful shades such as Dark Camouflage Gray or RAF Blue.

Luckily they are also sold in quite garish yellows, reds and greens which should be visible in the hive.

Humbrol Enamel paints are sold in small, rather tricky tins. Not ideal if you’re wearing gloves and a bee suit. They need to be shaken/mixed before use, open easily with the thin blade of a stick tool and can be applied with the end of a match.

Despite being solvent based, Humbrol Lacquer does not dry particularly quickly. I’ve only used it a few times and gave it up in favor of…

Posca are water based art pens. Your PC-5M model has a bullet tip measuring approximately 2.5mm in diameter, combining paint and applicator in one easy-to-use package. These pens are also available in a wide range of colors.

Shocking news! Beekeepers agree.

Beekeepers use different colors to indicate the year a particular queen was raised. Since queens rarely get older than 3 years, a total of 5 different colors are sufficient to mark queens without confusion.

Amazingly, to my knowledge, all beekeepers use the same color scheme for queen marking.

Color End of year use White 1 or 6 Yellow 2 or 7 Red 3 or 8 Green 4 or 9 Blue 5 or 0

Queens raised this year (2019) should therefore be marked green.

Any color as long as it’s white

Or blue.

I am red-green color blind. This means I’m having trouble distinguishing between some reds and greens. It also means I “trust” colors (or my ability to distinguish them) less. Subtle differences are often ignored.

A bright yellow dot on a queen’s thorax is easy to spot… except in a colony that accumulates a lot of OSR pollen when every fifth worker bee is laden with bright yellow corbiculae.

I therefore only mark my ladies white or blue.

These are both colors I find easy to see that are rarely present in pollen baskets or elsewhere in the hive and are therefore very distinctive.

I used to alternate odd and even years until my blue posca pen stopped working 🙁

My white Posca pen just started playing. If you search you can find them for around £5 for three and they will last for years.

Easier said than done

I started an earlier section by saying, “You mark the queen by placing a contrasting colored patch of color on the top of her rib cage.”

Beginners may find this a daunting task.

After all, isn’t the queen the most important and valuable member of the hive?

What if you accidentally crush them? Or the other bees don’t like the smell of the paint and attack it? What if she flies away?

OK, the first of these is a disaster, but it’s relatively easy to avoid using one of the methods outlined below. The second is unlikely if you let the paint dry properly, and very unlikely if you’re using a water-based Posca pen.

The third is also unlikely… (mated) queens are generally reluctant to fly and when they do, they fly poorly. You can generally pick them up from the grass near your feet. If you lose sight of her, close the hive and carefully exit the area (watch where you step). She usually returns to the hive.

While easier said than done, tagging ladies isn’t that difficult and is a very useful skill for becoming competent and confident.

In order to mark the queen, she must be immobilized. There are essentially three ways to do this:

On the frame with a press cage. Also called the Crown of Thorns Cage (or Crown of Thorns Cage, depending on where you bought it 😉 ). Out of frame in a hand held cage for queen marking. Out of the frame, simply hold them between your thumb and forefinger.

Press in crown of thorns or cage

The press cage is a wooden, plastic, or metal ring with spikes sticking out on one side. Above it is a mesh of thread (or plastic in cheaper versions). You find the queen on the frame, place the press in the cage over her without impaling her or her entourage, press down gently to immobilize her, then apply a dab of paint to her rib cage.

That’s easier said than done.

First, there are usually a lot of bees on the frame that the queen is on. Isolating her from her daughters can be difficult. The more you chase her around the frame, the faster she runs… and then she disappears around the sidebar and you have to start over.

You need three hands. You can’t hold the frame, cage and pen. The cage must be held when using the pen. You will therefore need to lay the frame down horizontally (usually on the top bars of the other frames), which the bees on the underside may not appreciate.

Once you isolate her, the workers will climb onto the press in the cage, blocking your view of the queen.

Your vision isn’t great anyway, as you’re hunched over the frame, which almost certainly blocks the light and makes everything harder to see.

Is it obvious that I’m not a big fan of the caged press?

I know I still carry one as I regularly poke the spikes through my fingers when rummaging around in my bee sac. However, I haven’t used it in years and far prefer to use a handheld queen marker cage.

Hand cage for marking queens

The simplest of these consist of a cylinder with one end covered with a thin open mesh of thread and a butt covered with foam.

Alternatively, and my favorite, the braid of threads is replaced with a series of horizontal plastic rods too narrow for the queen to crawl between.

You take the queen out of the frame, drop her into the cylinder, insert the plunger, gently pin her against the stitches/rods and apply the paint to her rib cage.

Hold tight.

Wait a minute.

You get the queen out of the frame?

That’s the easy part. Queen bees are of course equipped with two practical handles.

The wings.

The thumb and forefinger of a bare or thinly gloved hand are fabulously dexterous. It’s easy to pick up the queen by one or both wings, move her away from the frame, put the frame down, pick up the queen marker cage, and let her in.

From frame to cage in seconds

I’m right-handed and this description is for right-handed people.

Hold the frame (usually by the eyelet) with the lady on it in your left hand. Rotate the frame carefully so that the face is well lit. Wait for the lady to move away from the edge of the frame. Wait for her to come to you. Gently clench your third, fourth, and fifth fingers and extend your thumb and forefinger like pincers. With this hand, slowly approach the queen from behind as she calmly walks over the frame.

Without grabbing or tearing, calmly grasp them by the wing (or wings) and lift them out of the frame. If you miss her and just nudge her, or she turns away at the last moment, don’t repeatedly shove her across the frame.

let her calm down

Get your breath back.

Try again.

Set the frame down carefully. Ideally place it at an angle between the frames of the incubator. Take your time. Do not drop or tip the frame. If you balance it well, with the cleat wedged into the box edge and the bottom bar balanced on the runner, you can easily reinsert the queen after marking.

Once your left hand is free, pick up the Queen’s Mark Cage Top Hat. Drop the queen in. Cover them with two fingers (hold them between thumb and fourth and fifth fingers). Pick up the plunger with your right hand and insert the plunger after gently shaking the queen to the bottom of the cage. Turn the cage over, gently push the plunger up to capture the queen – rib cage up – and hold the plunger between your fourth and fifth fingers and your palm while holding the cage cylinder between your thumb and forefinger ( see illustration further up the page). .

You can then apply the color with your right hand.

Handy

Once you’ve learned to take the queen out of the frame, an easy transition is to do away with the queen’s marker cage and simply hold her on the back of your left index finger and pinch her legs with your thumb and index finger – thus immobilizing her. Ted Hooper’s book Guide to Bees and Honey has a good description of it.

It’s easier without gloves. Even very thin nitrile gloves make it difficult to hold the queen. Since I always wear gloves to reduce propolis staining and potential pathogen transmission, I use a hand held queen marker cage.

Final Remarks on Dealing with the Queen

Lifting the queen with gloves is easy if the gloves are thin enough. It’s easy with nitrile gloves and possible with marigold dishwashing gloves.

Don’t try the big leather beekeeper gauntlets as they give you hands like feet as a graduate student once said of the dexterity of my lab skills 🙁

If you hold the queen by both wings, she’ll wave her legs in the air and arch her stomach, but she can’t do much more.

If you pick her up by a wing, she usually manages to roll over and grab your thumb with her feet. Don’t worry, you won’t rip her wing off.

But if you’re thinking that, you might loosen your grip…at that point, she’ll calmly (or not so calmly) walk up your thumb. No panic. It will not sting and is very unlikely to fly.

Queen mark

However you immobilize them, the actual marking is easy. The goal is to put a small blob of paint on the top of her rib cage.

Not on her head, belly, or wings.

Small means 2-3mm wide. Don’t overload what you use to apply the paint.

If it’s a match, just touch the surface of the paint (or Tipp-Ex).

If it’s a Posca pen, press the tip against a solid surface (hive lid, thumb, etc.) a few times to load the pen, check with a light touch that it’s dispensing the right amount, and then mark the queen.

I like to walk away from the hive to mark the queen, maybe to a corner of the apiary in the light shade. This separates me from the flying bees and I can literally concentrate on my work.

Release of the Queen

Allow the paint to dry for a few minutes before releasing the queen.

If you hold the queen, you must hold her while this is happening (or put her in a matchbox). Enjoy your time with her…she will work hard for you 🙂

On a handheld queen marker cage, I move the plunger down about an inch and put her in the shade while I go on to something else for a few minutes.

With a press-in cage, just leave it for a few minutes before gently prying it off. This is the easiest and least traumatic way to release the queen (and one of the only advantages of this marking method). The queen is already on the frame and surrounded by bees, so there are no shakes or surprises.

The number one thing to avoid when releasing the queen is suddenly dropping her onto the top bars or into the hive. There is a chance the workers will ball them up and kill them.

Gently offer her a gap between the top bars or the front of the frame you left protruding from the top of the hive. With the handheld cage, it’s easy to just place it on the top bars and watch.

She will usually walk in quietly and disappear from sight.

job done.

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A marked queen is easier to find and identify. Some beekeepers insist on marking every queen, others do not mark at all. Tagging your queen is really about how closely you want to keep track of your colonies. In this article, we give some insight into the situations in which a marked queen can be useful and how to mark without harming her.

Why should you tag your queens?

Finding your queen can be quite a challenge, especially if you have a strong colony with lots of comb. A marked queen is of course much easier to find and can reduce the time of a hive inspection. The shorter the control, the less stress for the bees and the beekeeper.

A marked queen is easier to spot, especially on used darker combs.

However, regular inspection of the hive does not always require visibly seeing the queen. There are many clues that will give you an idea about the condition of the colony and the queen. The presence of a nice brood pattern (meaning the brood is not scattered) is clear evidence of a healthy queen. In addition, if you see eggs, you can be sure that a queen has been present for the last 3 days. Any changes in the breeding pattern indicate that the queen is aging, has died, or has been replaced. If you notice the colony being particularly cranky or making unusual noises, this can also be a sign of a queen absence (although mood can also be affected by food availability and weather). A simple test of a queen’s presence is simply by tapping. Put your ear to the hive and give a gentle “knock-knock.” A stable and happy colony will remain calm. However, if your tapping is followed by an increase in activity and you hear a lot of buzzing, something might be wrong. There is a good chance that the queen has passed away or that the colony is about to swarm [1].

However, if you are planning on performing an artificial swarm or dividing your colony, you may want to locate your queen. This way you can make sure your queen stays in your old colony, or you can put her in charge of your newly formed colony. For this reason, many advise tagging your queen or buying pre-tagged queens [2]. However, it must be noted that you can divide your colonies without a marked queen (as long as you divide the brood combs evenly). Yes, for the first few days you may not know which colony your queen is actually in, but that is only temporary. After a few days you can look at the breeding pattern and see which colonies have the queen and which don’t. You can then choose to let the queenless colony raise new queens on its own, or introduce a queen

Aside from helping you find your queen, a marked queen also gives you a clue as to her age. Even if you find an untagged queen in your colony, you know that your tagged queen will be replaced. Most queens are marked with a colored dot, but some prefer to glue a small disc with a number on it on top of the queen. The numbering allows you to identify your queen with 100% certainty. This method is therefore often used in research, since data can easily be assigned to a specific queen.

Queen with a numbered disc, usually the disc bears the color of the year the queen was born. The color scheme of the marker bees is given below in the article.

So the question to ask yourself is: How exactly do I want to manage my colony and my queen? If you’re actively trying to raise your best possible queen, or if you break up often and want to keep track of which queen is in which colony, it can be worth tagging your queens. If not, then tagging a queen may not be necessary as a lot of information can be gleaned from looking at the brood pattern. Even if you have a lot of hives, finding the time to tag all your queens can be difficult.

How to mark your queen

If you have decided to mark one of your queens, there are a few measures that need to be taken to avoid hurting her. Never tag your queens “freehand,” meaning you simply tag her as she moves down the ridge. They could harm the queen and increase the chances that the bees will displace her. If you are inexperienced with any of the methods listed below, you can always practice with some drones.

Queen’s mark color scheme

In the beekeeping community the following color scheme is used to tell what year the queen is raised. In this way, the age of the queen can be easily distinguished. Each color relates to the latest number of the year the queen was raised. For example, a queen raised in 2018 should be marked red, a queen raised in 2019 green [3].

Color used in year-end closing: example

⬤ White 1 or 6 2016

⬤ Yellow 2 or 7 2017

⬤ Red 3 or 8 2018

⬤ Green 4 or 9 2019

⬤ Blue 5 or 0 2020

This system allows beekeepers to exchange or sell queens to one another. A queen usually doesn’t live longer than 3 years, so this color scheme, which repeats every 5 years, will always work.

Queen marking step by step

Marking a queen has to be broken down into 4 steps.

Search for the Queen

Immobilize the Queen

tag them

you let go

Step 1 – Search for the Queen

First open the hive and find your queen. To make it easier for you to find the queen, try to tag your queen in the spring as there are fewer bees early in the season. Also, the queen is easier to distinguish on newer lighter combs than on old and darker combs. Finally, try to use little or no smoke as this could disturb the queen and she could move to the very edge of the hive, causing you to take more frames than necessary [1]. When you find her, take out the comb that the queen is sitting on.

Step 2 – Immobilize the Queen

To calm her down, you need to immobilize her. There are different tools for this. First there is the Queen Catcher, which is used in conjunction with the Queen Marker Tube.

This model is a queen catcher and is made of transparent plastic that offers an optimal view of the queen inside.

queencatcher

This is a small cage made of either plastic or metal. Open your queen catcher and place it over your queen. Slowly close the catcher and watch her move. When you are sure that the queen has fully moved into the catcher, you can close it. You may have other bees in the catcher, but there is enough space between the stalks for worker bees to crawl out.

Then take your queen marker cage and drop the queen into the tube. Close the end of the tube with your hand to make sure the queen doesn’t escape. When the queen has moved to the other end of the cage (you can gently shake the tube if she doesn’t move down herself), remove your hand and insert the plunger. Slowly slide it up to push the queen against the bottom of the tube (without squashing her, of course!). She must be lying with her chest up. Now you can mark them.

There are also tools that combine queen catcher and reed in one. These so-called one-handed queen catchers can be easier to use, but it’s really a matter of personal preference.

Queen Marker Tube, the soft foam plunger keeps the queen in place without making her uncomfortable. However, care must still be taken to push the queen towards the end.

With the hand

Picking up a queen with your hands is fairly easy, but needs to be done with care. Always lift a queen with bare hands, gloves make it difficult to hold or it could slip and fall out of your hands.

You can pick her up by one or both wings, it won’t hurt her, but you should do it calmly and in a controlled manner. She might move and crunch her stomach if you do this, but she won’t get hurt. To make it easier, you can try picking her up from behind since she probably won’t see your hand coming. If you can’t pick them up on the first try, don’t be stressed. Wait a moment and let her calm down, if she gets stressed and running around, the chances of her getting hurt go up.

Once you’ve picked them up, you can either put them in a queen marker tube and proceed as above.

Alternatively, you can grab them by the legs and mark them with your hand. Experienced beekeepers may prefer this as it can be the quickest way. However, if you are not careful enough you could injure her legs as you also need to hold her for a moment as the paint needs to be dry before releasing it into the hive.

Stick marker cage or crown of thorns

The “Push-In Marker Cage” or “Crown of Thorns” is a ring with spikes that you can push onto the frame and trap the queen (and probably some workers too). The advantage of this system is that you don’t have to pick up the queen and you can mark her on the comb. However, this method can be quite inconvenient as there is a high chance that you will pierce some bees (or even the queen herself if you are not careful). The queen is almost always surrounded by many bees and they can become restless. Also, be careful not to remove the marker cage too quickly after giving your queen a marker, as the paint may still be wet and smelly.

Insertable marker cage, attached here to foam instead of a comb.

Step 3 – Marking the Queen

When tagging, it is very important that you only tag on the queen’s rib cage. Any other part will harm her. You can buy different «Queen marker pens» in different colors. However, you can also use regular water-based pens. If you want to use numbers instead of colors, you need to glue the small disc with the number on the queen’s rib cage. Usually the discs can be ordered in packages with quick drying and non-toxic glue.

Regardless of what product you use to mark your queens, it’s important to allow the paint or glue to dry before reintroducing the queen to her colony. Otherwise, the queen could be rejected or killed due to her unusual smell [2]. Also the paint or glue might have come off, so wait about 1-2 minutes.

Step 4 – Release them

As with the rest of the process, do this nice and easy. Bring the queen back to the colony and let her go back to the hive.

Conclusion

Queen tagging can be very helpful in making your queen easier to spot during inspections. Which method you prefer is really a matter of personal preference. So try different tools to see which one suits you best. You can easily borrow various tools from other beekeepers or through your local beekeeping association, otherwise they are not that expensive to buy. Queen marking takes some time (especially if you have a lot of hives). And for regular hive inspection, you don’t actually need to find your queen. But if you want to keep a close eye on your queen, tagging can definitely make your job a little easier.

literature

[1] Zumsteg, R. Dedicated to the Queen. Swiss bee newspaper. 2016-08. 10-12

[2] Zumsteg, R. Fully dedicated to the Queen (II). Swiss bee newspaper. 2016-10, 12-14.

[3] Sammataro, D., & Avitabile, A. (2011). The Beekeeper’s Handbook. Fourth edition. Cornell University Press.

Queen bee marking colors

Watermarked, manageable and quick-drying colors so you don’t have to worry about blurring. In addition to the queen, you can mark all materials. Remember to queen the correct color according to the calendar year.

Queen bee is a small touch of color on the chest so that the beekeeper can find her better among other bees and determine her age. The international system uses 5 colors in order: white, yellow, red, green, blue.

Bee color queen color in 10 ml glass. Each color year is determined for each calendar year. Special quick-drying adhesive paints are used to mark mothers. Sometimes a small mark of the appropriate color is stuck on the chest, which is also a two-digit number to distinguish each queen.

Blue – 2005, 2010, 2015, 2020

White – 2006, 2011, 2016, 2021

Yellow – 2007, 2012, 2017, 2022

Red – 2008, 2013, 2018, 2023

Green – 2009, 2014, 2019, 2024

Queen mark – illustration photo.

Finding and identifying the queen bee within a large hive of bees is not easy. For this reason, every professional beekeeper uses professional and, above all, non-hazardous methods for marking the queen bee.

Every year, the queen bees are “colored” by the breeders so that they can be easily and later identified in the combs.

Usefulness of the marker:

As mentioned earlier, marking queen bees is an important process to save time when identifying bees, but it is also useful to know that:

– the marking of the queen bee allows you to identify the queen bee among all the other bees in the shortest possible time, which is useful not only to save time, but also in the case of brood blocks with vertical combs;

– The process also allows us to see if the bees have changed queens and we haven’t noticed. (e.g. we could observe the presence of a brood without sighting the queen. In this case, a new queen should be found, placed and re-tagged).

If the color is printed incorrectly, rubbing between the queen bee and other bees can gradually make it disappear, so this process must be done very carefully.

How is the queen bee marked?

Using tagging is quite a delicate process, but it will save valuable time in the future. The queen bee is picked up by beekeepers and carefully placed on the chest with a drop of indelible paint in bright color or alternatively discs with special stickers to make it easier and faster to distinguish her on the comb from the other bees present .

Marking can be done at any time during the beekeeping season except for the winter period when the temperature is too low and the bees are in Glomere. It is always preferable to mark the queen as soon as she has been fertilized in the nucleus, this operation takes place in early spring or autumn (when families are fewer).

After the queen has been tagged, you must wait a few minutes before reinserting her into the hive.

This is important so that the paint is perfectly dry and there are no extraneous odors that could bother the bees or the queen herself.

It is important to prevent the queen from carrying an alien odor, otherwise she would cause a reaction called “curling”.

Cuddling is a form of defense used by the bees, which do not recognize the queen’s scent, but perceive it as a dangerous factor and must therefore eliminate it.

Normally, the worker bees employ the nesting strategy against large predators and against invaders in hives, such as the Vespa Crabro (commonly called hornet) or the Acherontia atropos moth (commonly called squirrel sphinx), and this defense consists of smothering and suffocating the enemy Warming up the invader by vibrating some chest muscles around the enemy. Therefore, by curling, there would be a risk that the queen would be suffocated by her own workers.

With the mark it is possible to know the age of the queen at all times, since its color allows the bee to be identified and allows beekeepers to recognize not only the fact that it is a queen, but also the year of the mark and thus the year of marking the age of the bee.

Marking a queen bee: a process that requires experience

Marking bees requires a lot of experience in the field, since taking the bee and holding it, even for a few minutes, is an operation that must not affect the health of the bee in any way, and it is therefore important that whoever does it Operation performs, a is professional.

Namely, the marking process can be direct or indirect.

We recommend that you always carry out this operation directly or in direct contact with the bees, by professional beekeepers trained in this type of operation.

The direct method is therefore suitable for those who have a lot of experience with bees.

First, the queen bee is taken directly from the comb. In this process, professionals usually do not use any tools or devices, but use their own hands.

The queen is picked up and held still simply by holding her between the thumb and forefinger, and the operation is accomplished in a matter of minutes by imprinting a tiny drop of colored paint on the bee’s chest, which usually dries quickly, creating waiting times for the the Bee restraints are minimal.

Alternatively, there are tools that still allow you to engage the bee and keep it steady without putting pressure that is harmful to the animal. However, we recommend that you always rely on the use of professional kits and the work of competent beekeepers. keeping queen bees in a state of optimal health at all times and not taking any risks in this area.

The marking colors of the queen bees

As already mentioned, the colors used make it possible to identify the year of origin of each bee. Marking is a process that is carried out every year. The colors used are usually five.

In fact, according to international agreements, the queen bees are marked with a periodic series of five different colors every year. Five colors were selected in alphabetical order by name (blue, white, yellow, red and green).

The color assignment is always determined by the last digit of the year to be identified. Normally, years ending in zero or five are assigned the color blue and all other middle years are assigned the color that follows, respecting alphabetical order.

For example:

year 2015

year 2016

year 2017

year 2018

year 2019

year 2020

Do you need to buy queen bees?

Apicoltura Laterza deals with the sale of virgin and fertile queen bees of the Buckfast and Ligustica breeds. We ship throughout Italy and throughout Europe with express and immediate shipments.

Click here to view our queen bees.

The members of the Royal Family are all decked out for the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee celebrations, which kicked off with Trooping the Colour

Queen Elizabeth and the royal family wore blue to trooping: here’s why

Blue was the color of choice for the Royal Family as they kicked off the Platinum Jubilee celebrations with Trooping the Colour.

Queen Elizabeth stepped onto the balcony of Buckingham Palace in St. Patrick’s Blue, a nod to Ireland’s original symbolic color, which can also be representative of sovereignty.

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The Queen, 96, wore a light blue ensemble adorned with pearl and rhinestone embellishments by her personal seamstress and close friend Angela Kelly – the same outfit she wore in her newly released portrait to mark her platinum anniversary! – with one of her signature wide-brimmed hats that goes perfectly with her dress.

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Britain’s Queen Elizabeth II (C) stands with, from left, Britain’s Princess Anne, Princess Royal, Britain’s Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Britain’s Prince Charles, Prince of Wales, Britain’s Prince Louis of Cambridge, Britain’s Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge, Britain’s Princess Charlotte of Cambridge, Britain’s Prince George of Cambridge, Britain’s Prince William, Duke of Cambridge to watch a special flyby from Buckingham Palace. From left: Princess Anne, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall, Prince Charles, Queen Elizabeth, Kate Middleton, Princess Charlotte and Prince George and Prince William on the balcony for Trooping the Color on June 2nd. | Photo credit: DANIEL LEAL/AFP via Getty Images

Karen Haller, color psychologist and author of The Little Book of Color, previously spoke to MyLondon about the royal family’s signature blue outfits, noting that they show “they come together as a family and pose as a cohesive unit.”

The Queen attends her official birthday celebration as she inspects Household Division troops as they march in Whitehall, Queen Elizabeth | Credit: Tim Rooke/Shutterstock

“When it comes to color psychology, Dark Blues communicates that you hold a position of authority, are trustworthy, dependable, and dependable,” Haller told the outlet. “You have a sense of duty and take it seriously with committed focus.”

Catherine, Duchess of Cambridge (C) flanked by Britain’s Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall (L) waves to the public as she arrives in a carriage to take part in the Queen’s Birthday Parade, Trooping the Color Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall and Kate Middleton to attend | Credit: BEN STANSALL/AFP via Getty Images

After the Queen’s blue St Patrick’s attire, Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall also styled a blue striped dress by Bruce Oldfield with a hat by Philip Treacy.

Kate Middleton, Duchess of Cambridge, opted for a white gown, which she had previously worn by Alexander McQueen, her wedding dress designer, and a white and blue hat by Philip Treacy, while her three children coordinated in blue. George, 8, looked all grown up in a suit, collared white shirt and blue tie. Charlotte, 7, wore a blue chiffon dress with sheer sleeves and a matching tie in her hair. And 4-year-old Louis looked gorgeous in a seafaring-inspired white and blue ensemble worn by his father Prince William to Trooping as a young boy.

Prince Harry and Meghan Markle – the Duke and Duchess of Sussex – also coordinated with family members in blue. Meghan wore an asymmetric, wide-brimmed Stephen Jones hat with an oversized navy blue bow and a matching navy blue dress, while Harry wore a blue suit instead of a ceremonial dress as he has done in the past.

Prince George, Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte in the carriage procession at Trooping the Color during Queen Elizabeth II’s Platinum Jubilee. Prince George, Prince Louis and Princess Charlotte at Trooping the Color on June 2nd. | Credit: Karwai Tang/WireImage

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This year’s Trooping the Color is historic as it kicks off a long festive weekend to celebrate the Queen’s Platinum Jubilee, marking her record-breaking 70-year reign.

One of the most important duties of a beekeeper is to monitor the status of the queen in a colony. You don’t always have to see the queen visually to know everything is fine. However, sometimes you have to find them. Tagging a queen bee makes it much easier to find her, allowing for faster inspection of the hive.

Some experienced beekeepers choose never to tag their bees. But most hobby or small-scale beekeepers enjoy the benefits of a marked queen.

May contain affiliate links. Read my Affiliate Privacy and Disclosure Policy for more information.

Marked ladies are easier to find

For new beekeepers, having a marked queen is much easier to actually find. Of course, everyone with experience gets better at locating them in the hive.

However, even after you’ve gotten to the stage where you can “almost always” find your queen bee, her marking still speeds up the process much faster.

This will help you perform hive inspections quickly. Once you know where she is, her frame can be kept in a safe place. She’s less likely to be crushed during a hive inspection if you know her location.

Replacement of the queen by the colony

What does it mean when you find an unmarked queen in a hive that previously had a marked one? There are multiple possibilities:

the paint has rubbed off from the old one

the colony has swarmed and you see a new one

They temporarily have 2 ladies in there!

Honey bee swarming is a natural occurrence in healthy colonies. If you examine a hive that you know had a marked queen, you may find one that is unmarked.

In rare cases it can happen that the paint has been polished away. However, this could be a new replacement by swarming or replacing.

While it is normal to only have one queen in a hive, sometimes mother and new daughter live together for a while. I have seen this in my own hives.

The bottom line is that having marked queens in your hives lets you know (for the most part) when the colony replaced them.

This is valuable information for the beekeeper working to breed bees with specific traits. If you are producing a colony with superior varroa mite control, it is good to know where the queen in that hive came from.

Join our beekeeping community FREE “Secrets of Successful Beekeeping” plus weekly newsletter with information about bees, beekeeping and more… First Name Email By subscribing, I agree to receive emails.

Queen bee colors

If you mark her with a special color of the year you will always know how old she is. This can be beneficial in honey bee management. Why?

Because if you have an older queen in a production colony, you know she’s more likely to fail than a young one. Knowing their age allows the beekeeper to plan.

You can leave her in place as long as she does a good job – but maybe you can check her quality a little more often. If you suspect the need to reconnate a hive, this gives some warning.

International Queen Bee Color Chart

Of course, beekeepers can mark the honey bee queen with any color they like. However, using the International Queen Bee Color Chart is easier. You don’t have to rely on your memory to know which color was used for which year.

Use the colored pencil that corresponds to the last digit of the year. White 1.6 Yellow 2.7 Red 3.8 Green 4.9 Blue 5.0. So a queen raised in 2020 would be marked with a blue dot, 2021 with a white dot, and so on.

Buy marked queen bees

A beekeeper buying bees often has a choice of an untagged queen or one tagged for the current year—for a few dollars more. The additional costs are intended to compensate for the additional effort and time required by the manufacturer.

If you buy a queen for your hive, they will almost always mate. Having completed their mating flights, they are already laying eggs. You arrive at your hive ready to start building the colony.

Safe in the queen’s cage with their companions – they’ll be accepted soon. They will never leave the hive unless the colony swarms out.

Queens who have not yet mated are called virgins. Many beekeepers do not recommend marking virgin queens.

The thought is that there’s no reason to let them fly around with a colored dot on their back. This makes them more visible to predators.

However, the majority of beekeepers who purchase packs or nucs receive already mated queens. So those colorful markers shouldn’t be a problem.

When to Mark Your Queens

If you get an unmarked mated queen, the best time to mark her is within the first month.

You can mark them during the installation of the bee pack. However, it is best to wait a few weeks. Let the bee colonies get to know you – without a big dot on your back.

Once accepted and laying eggs, she can be tagged while the colony is still small. When I introduce a new queen to a colony, I like to give the bees a few weeks to accept and get to know her. This increases the chance of acceptance.

Queen marker color

A popular color used for marking is UNI-POSCA markers. These are available online and at major beekeeping supply stores.

Another option for some beekeepers is to use Testor model paint. This paint takes a little longer to dry than using the markers. Although not labeled as a bee paint, it has been used by older beekeepers for years.

Are these colors toxic to bees? That doesn’t seem to be a problem. Also, we only put a small dot on part of her back. If they stay tightly closed I have Posca pens that will last for years.

How to tag your honey queen bee

When developing a strategy to catch and hold your queen, do what feels comfortable to you. We need to hold her for a few seconds without harming her.

Beekeepers generally approach marking in one of two ways.

Catch and hold them with your fingers

Use a marker tube or cage for the queen

Hold a queen bee with your fingers

If you have a steady hand and nerves of steel (I don’t), you can tackle your queen head-on. Capturing them in this way requires some skill.

Gently grasp her and hold her body between your thumb and the first finger of your non-dominant hand. The second finger offers space for your feet.

Move your fingers to reveal the top of her rib cage and put a small dot of color on it. After that, let the paint dry for about a minute – carefully place it back on the frame.

If the idea of ​​lifting your queen this way gets your blood pressure pumping – don’t worry, there are other options.

Using a Queen Marking Kit with Tube

Using a queen marker tube is the easiest way to safely mark your queens. The beekeeper does not have to hold them, but still needs to be careful not to apply too much pressure.

Locate the frame with the queen and carefully place the frame side up. Remove the foam covered plunger from the tube and “lock the queen in the tube”.

Replace the foam plunger and gently push it to the end with a mesh cover. The sponge surface protects them if you are careful.

Continue to nudge her slowly until her back (thorax) is against the mesh. Don’t use too much force – be gentle. Sometimes a gentle blow helps to get her to roll over when needed.

Now mark them with your Queen Pen marker or paint. If you are using a colored pencil, first make a test dab on a nearby piece of wood. Sometimes the first bit of color is too much. Don’t put paint on their wings, antenna, or legs. We just want a small dot of paint on her back.

Allow the paint to dry for a minute or two, then remove the plunger and place the open end of the tube on top of a frame. She will crawl out and join the colony.

There is also a one-handed queen marker tube on the market to consider.

Round push-in queen marker cage

Another option that appeals to some beekeepers is to use a small round cage. This plug-in cage has a mesh top. The beauty of this tool is that you can mark your queen without having to pick her up.

However, it can be difficult to get them into the cage without many other bees. The push-in cage works well, but you have to be careful. Avoid pressing down too hard and damaging your queen.

Regardless of the method used, unexpected situations may arise. If she should flee, stop. Don’t move for a few minutes. In most cases, she returns to her colony.

While some beekeepers believe that marking can cause a colony to shed them, this is not usually the case. Tagging queen bees helps new beekeepers develop the ability to locate them when needed.

These screenshots are probably my favorite parts of the last post I wrote about creating a walkaway split. The first photo shows the new queen about 4 days after she left her cell. The second photo shows her about two weeks later after mating and laying well. What a difference.

The difference is somewhat dramatic. The belly of the still virgin queen protrudes only slightly beyond the tips of her wings. After she has made one or more successful mating flights and then laid eggs for about a week, her abdomen becomes more swollen and lengthens to the point where it protrudes about twice as far beyond her wingtips. (My cursor in the photo is pointing at their wingtips.)

We can see that the dark tip of her abdomen hasn’t changed between photos, but the segments on her abdomen — which appear as stripes in normal worker honeybees — are barely noticeable while she’s a virgin, but look like fully inflated tires about to explode after mating and settling into a healthy egg-laying groove.

If we take a closer look at the worker bee to the right of the mating queen, we can see how much the segments of the queen’s abdomen have expanded after mating. The mating queen is a giant compared to the worker bees, while the 4-day-old virgin queen is only slightly larger than the worker bees next to her in the photo – which can make virgin queens difficult to find.

To me, this mated queen appears to have both a thick girth and length. The queens are usually long but not as puffy on the sides. It’s possible that this queen’s form will thin out as she lays further.

Most of the queens in my hives are darker in color but this newly mated queen is almost pure blonde as some like to call it. The lighter or blond queens might have Italian genetics, while the darker queens tend to come from hardier breeds like the Russians – but color isn’t always a gift, so it’s difficult to say for sure.

From what I’ve observed, seeing queens from the second they leave their cells to the end of their lives, there seem to be four forms for a queen bee:

1) A wet virgin who has just emerged has the appearance of a mated queen.

2) Once her exoskeleton dries or hardens, her belly will shrink to give her a stocky appearance.

3) She looks a bit fatter and longer after returning from a mating flight.

4) She looks like a fully formed queen bee with an elongated abdomen that stretches twice as long as her wings after laying eggs for about a week – when well mated and healthy.

She can look fat again just before swarming if the worker bees bother her before going on a swarm flight (they have to trim her to make her light enough to fly). Anything that causes her to stop laying altogether, which can include stress or illness, seems to shrink her size.

I’ve read various descriptions and explanations for the Queen’s shape. These are just mine based on my observations over the past 11 years. I still have a long way to go in this queen business. This is definitely not my specialty.

P.S. I’ll add a photo of what a typical mated queen looks like when I get a chance. This one seems a little thicker than I’m used to, but you get the picture.

Even this queen is not typical of the queens I see in my hives these days. Mine are usually longer and not as thick.

This isn’t the clearest shot, but most of my queens these days look more like this – dark and long:

The second queen in this video is stocky. I ordered her from the Newfoundland Bee Company but she only laid a few eggs and then stopped. This can happen to any queen, even so-called naturally mated queens who depend on good weather and other uncontrollable factors for a good mating. In any case, it’s not difficult to spot a queen that doesn’t lay. The queen is stubby in this video, very similar to the first photo of the virgin queen in this post.

In this video we see a queen bee laying eggs.

One of the most important duties of a beekeeper is to monitor the status of the queen in a colony. You don’t always have to see the queen visually to know everything is fine. However, sometimes you have to find them. Tagging a queen bee makes it much easier to find her, allowing for faster inspection of the hive.

Some experienced beekeepers choose never to tag their bees. But most hobby or small-scale beekeepers enjoy the benefits of a marked queen.

May contain affiliate links. Read my Affiliate Privacy and Disclosure Policy for more information.

Marked ladies are easier to find

For new beekeepers, having a marked queen is much easier to actually find. Of course, everyone with experience gets better at locating them in the hive.

However, even after you’ve gotten to the stage where you can “almost always” find your queen bee, her marking still speeds up the process much faster.

This will help you perform hive inspections quickly. Once you know where she is, her frame can be kept in a safe place. She’s less likely to be crushed during a hive inspection if you know her location.

Replacement of the queen by the colony

What does it mean when you find an unmarked queen in a hive that previously had a marked one? There are multiple possibilities:

the paint has rubbed off from the old one

the colony has swarmed and you see a new one

They temporarily have 2 ladies in there!

Honey bee swarming is a natural occurrence in healthy colonies. If you examine a hive that you know had a marked queen, you may find one that is unmarked.

In rare cases it can happen that the paint has been polished away. However, this could be a new replacement by swarming or replacing.

While it is normal to only have one queen in a hive, sometimes mother and new daughter live together for a while. I have seen this in my own hives.

The bottom line is that having marked queens in your hives lets you know (for the most part) when the colony replaced them.

This is valuable information for the beekeeper working to breed bees with specific traits. If you are producing a colony with superior varroa mite control, it is good to know where the queen in that hive came from.

Join our beekeeping community FREE “Secrets of Successful Beekeeping” plus weekly newsletter with information about bees, beekeeping and more… First Name Email By subscribing, I agree to receive emails.

Queen bee colors

If you mark her with a special color of the year you will always know how old she is. This can be beneficial in honey bee management. Why?

Because if you have an older queen in a production colony, you know she’s more likely to fail than a young one. Knowing their age allows the beekeeper to plan.

You can leave her in place as long as she does a good job – but maybe you can check her quality a little more often. If you suspect the need to reconnate a hive, this gives some warning.

International Queen Bee Color Chart

Of course, beekeepers can mark the honey bee queen with any color they like. However, using the International Queen Bee Color Chart is easier. You don’t have to rely on your memory to know which color was used for which year.

Use the colored pencil that corresponds to the last digit of the year. White 1.6 Yellow 2.7 Red 3.8 Green 4.9 Blue 5.0. So a queen raised in 2020 would be marked with a blue dot, 2021 with a white dot, and so on.

Buy marked queen bees

A beekeeper buying bees often has a choice of an untagged queen or one tagged for the current year—for a few dollars more. The additional costs are intended to compensate for the additional effort and time required by the manufacturer.

If you buy a queen for your hive, they will almost always mate. Having completed their mating flights, they are already laying eggs. You arrive at your hive ready to start building the colony.

Safe in the queen’s cage with their companions – they’ll be accepted soon. They will never leave the hive unless the colony swarms out.

Queens who have not yet mated are called virgins. Many beekeepers do not recommend marking virgin queens.

The thought is that there’s no reason to let them fly around with a colored dot on their back. This makes them more visible to predators.

However, the majority of beekeepers who purchase packs or nucs receive already mated queens. So those colorful markers shouldn’t be a problem.

When to Mark Your Queens

If you get an unmarked mated queen, the best time to mark her is within the first month.

You can mark them during the installation of the bee pack. However, it is best to wait a few weeks. Let the bee colonies get to know you – without a big dot on your back.

Once accepted and laying eggs, she can be tagged while the colony is still small. When I introduce a new queen to a colony, I like to give the bees a few weeks to accept and get to know her. This increases the chance of acceptance.

Queen marker color

A popular color used for marking is UNI-POSCA markers. These are available online and at major beekeeping supply stores.

Another option for some beekeepers is to use Testor model paint. This paint takes a little longer to dry than using the markers. Although not labeled as a bee paint, it has been used by older beekeepers for years.

Are these colors toxic to bees? That doesn’t seem to be a problem. Also, we only put a small dot on part of her back. If they stay tightly closed I have Posca pens that will last for years.

How to tag your honey queen bee

When developing a strategy to catch and hold your queen, do what feels comfortable to you. We need to hold her for a few seconds without harming her.

Beekeepers generally approach marking in one of two ways.

Catch and hold them with your fingers

Use a marker tube or cage for the queen

Hold a queen bee with your fingers

If you have a steady hand and nerves of steel (I don’t), you can tackle your queen head-on. Capturing them in this way requires some skill.

Gently grasp her and hold her body between your thumb and the first finger of your non-dominant hand. The second finger offers space for your feet.

Move your fingers to reveal the top of her rib cage and put a small dot of color on it. After that, let the paint dry for about a minute – carefully place it back on the frame.

If the idea of ​​lifting your queen this way gets your blood pressure pumping – don’t worry, there are other options.

Using a Queen Marking Kit with Tube

Using a queen marker tube is the easiest way to safely mark your queens. The beekeeper does not have to hold them, but still needs to be careful not to apply too much pressure.

Locate the frame with the queen and carefully place the frame side up. Remove the foam covered plunger from the tube and “lock the queen in the tube”.

Replace the foam plunger and gently push it to the end with a mesh cover. The sponge surface protects them if you are careful.

Continue to nudge her slowly until her back (thorax) is against the mesh. Don’t use too much force – be gentle. Sometimes a gentle blow helps to get her to roll over when needed.

Now mark them with your Queen Pen marker or paint. If you are using a colored pencil, first make a test dab on a nearby piece of wood. Sometimes the first bit of color is too much. Don’t put paint on their wings, antenna, or legs. We just want a small dot of paint on her back.

Allow the paint to dry for a minute or two, then remove the plunger and place the open end of the tube on top of a frame. She will crawl out and join the colony.

There is also a one-handed queen marker tube on the market to consider.

Round push-in queen marker cage

Another option that appeals to some beekeepers is to use a small round cage. This plug-in cage has a mesh top. The beauty of this tool is that you can mark your queen without having to pick her up.

However, it can be difficult to get them into the cage without many other bees. The push-in cage works well, but you have to be careful. Avoid pressing down too hard and damaging your queen.

Regardless of the method used, unexpected situations may arise. If she should flee, stop. Don’t move for a few minutes. In most cases, she returns to her colony.

While some beekeepers believe that marking can cause a colony to shed them, this is not usually the case. Tagging queen bees helps new beekeepers develop the ability to locate them when needed.

Finding the queen bee in your hives can be a challenge – even for experienced beekeepers. Some queens are plump and glow like a golden beacon on the frame, while others appear to have camouflage. Your ability to find them depends not only on their size and color, but also on their behavior. Some queens flaunt themselves outdoors while others scurry and hide in corners. So how can you improve your ability to find the queen?

your demeanor

Most beekeepers can identify the queen by sight, but if you are new you may have trouble distinguishing her from the worker bees. The queen bee is larger, but more specifically, she is longer. Her long belly extends past the tip of her wings, giving her the appearance of having short wings. Their backs are also different from those of most workers. She has a glossy, black, hairless back, while worker bees tend to have a fuzzy back. Their legs are long and usually light-colored, while worker bees tend to have dark-colored legs.

Don’t tag them

Although most say that tagging the queen makes her easier to find, I would argue that it hinders a new beekeeper’s ability to spot the queen. The bright splash of color on her back becomes a crutch. A new beekeeper may overly rely on finding the queen rather than really learning the distinguishing features of a queen bee.

inspection techniques

If you’re looking for the queen bee during an inspection, there are a few things you can do to increase your chances of finding her. First of all, be sparing with your smoking. Too much smoke will drive your queen into hiding. Second, go straight to the brood nest. The queen is most likely on a frame with new eggs. Don’t waste time searching through frames that are mostly honey or capped brood.

Work out

Practice makes perfect, but if you’re a new beekeeper, your options for foraging for queens are likely limited. You may only have one or two colonies and don’t want to stress them out by opening them too often. At most a few times a month you have the opportunity to hunt your hive for a queen.

So how can you improve your ability to find the queen without opening the hive? Play QueenSpotting! QueenSpotting is the name my Instagram followers have chosen for a game I’ve been playing through my social media accounts for the last few years. I am posting a photo of many bees and I challenge you to find the queen among them. It’s like Where’s Waldo, but bees. It’s not only fun, it’s also useful. I often hear from newbies saying that the game has sharpened their ability to find the queen in real life.

So how can you start playing? Join my QueenSpotting email group first and I’ll send you a new QueenSpotting photo every week. This ensures that you get consistent exercises straight to your inbox. Click here to learn more. Then follow me on Instagram, where I often post new challenges, or search for the hashtag #queenspotting. Finally, check out my new book which includes 48 fold-out queen identification pictures, short stories of my bee adventures and even more handy tips on finding your queens. Click here to learn more.

Since I first started QueenSpotting in 2012, the game has grown tremendously and now beekeepers are sharing their own QueenSpotting photos using the hashtag. Join the fun! Can you find the queen bee?

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