Hey All,
When I got my 2 packages this spring, the queens were both marked with white dots. I was looking at the color marking chart and it shows white as a year ending in a 6. Does this mean my queens are already 2 years old, or did the apiary just use white ?
thanks,
Mike
you'll have to ask the supplier. Not everyone uses the correct year and color, although a retailer should.
I got my bees April 5 and the queens were also marked with a white dot . They came from Mt.Vernan Georgia .
Thus far, I have received two blue dot queens and a red dot queen from the same supplier.
Mine had red dots on arrival. Now they have none. :-\
What is the right color for this year? I saw a chart someplace, but don't remember where.....
International Queen Marking Color Code:
Color: For Year Ending In:
White (or gray) 1 or 6
Yellow 2 or 7
Red 3 or 8
Green 4 or 9
Blue 5 or 0
2008 is RED.
Many don't follow the rule. I usually do, but I do violate it for special circumstances. For instance, when I buy a package that comes with a queen I mark her in some future color that I don't think any of my queens are (like next year's color) because I plan to replace her with one of my queens.
Color chart:
http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenrearing.htm#colors