So I think I just fouled up big time.
I have decided to start marking my queens. When I found one of my queens today I decided to mark her. It is a small colony and smoke was not required to look at them. Well she was given a pretty pink dot (my color for old queens).
After just a moment in my hand and a new dot I added her back. There were a few workers who attacked her. Was it the dot? Did I possible just lose a queen? I did go back and smoke each and every frame to help mask the smell of my mess up.
No problem. They were just trying to remove the foreign substance. Sometimes they are successful. It is called grooming.
I'm at a twix between two. I want to mark my three new ones so I'll know if the original queen is still there, however, I enjoy spotting them without any help.
One of my Queens, painted by mistake to her head and one of the antennas was completely RED. I thought that, this is the end for this Queen, but i saw her a few days ago ( 5 months after marking ) with the most of the paint, removed. Workers, after the accident begun to "help" the queen removing the paint. She made fine brood this season.
Marking my queens would depend on me finding them first :roll: Some people have the knack... and some DON'T.
JC
I have never marked a queen. I don't know how long you left her out but I know my bees do not like the smell of sharpie. If the paint was fresh and didn't dissipate the smell then they may have not recognized her at first. Check in a week, if she's in there they good; if not they'll make you a new one from eggs. I'm sure she'll be fine.