Over painting the Queen

Seabee8 · July 22, 2015, 11:15:49 AM

Yesterday I tried to mark my one and only queen with the blue queen marking plunger and ended up painting most of her instead of just a dot.

I am really concerned that I may have harmed her. Any advice?

Dallasbeek · July 22, 2015, 12:29:13 PM

I'm afraid she is damaged goods now and will likely be killed. If she was laying prior to your attempt to mark her, the bees will make a new queen to replace her. Given your location, it's questionable that a replacement can be developed, mated and laying in time to save your hive, though, because cold weather will hit. You may be able to buy a new queen in time. Maybe some others will be able to better advise you, but those are my thoughts. I'd suggest you read everything on Michael Bush's website for more information on all the subjects covered here.

GSF · July 22, 2015, 01:06:48 PM

Since they breathe through their exoskeleton she may have smothered. Then again, the bees may have cleaned her up a bit. Look again today or tomorrow. If you see a member of the blue man group crawling around on a frame all is well :) They seem to take a lot of abuse from us fairly well. Next time you mark a queen dot a board some to get the pen acting right. It's not uncommon to try to mark a queen and end up with one that looks spray painted. Look at the bright side, if she survives she'll be real easy to find. It happens to all of us.

Dallasbeek · July 22, 2015, 01:30:27 PM

Thanks, GSF, for adding that. I guess there's always hope and I came off sounding like Gloomy Gus, I suppose.

Michael Bush · July 22, 2015, 03:25:37 PM

>I am really concerned that I may have harmed her.

You have. It's hard to tell how much.

>Any advice?

Wait and see.

Seabee8 · July 22, 2015, 06:00:57 PM

Thanks everyone for your responses. I'll check in the morning and post the results.

By the way Dallasbeek, I may live in Canada but the cold weather is several months away:)

AR Beekeeper · July 22, 2015, 08:49:26 PM

I tried one of the paint pens a few years back and painted half the queen's head when the paint gushed out. I thought the bees would supersede the queen, but when I checked 3 days later I found they had cleaned the paint from her head. Perhaps all is not lost, you may get lucky.

Seabee8 · July 23, 2015, 10:50:08 AM

Just finished checking the hive and no sight of a blue queen. I am pretty sure I saw a queen but she had no paint on her??

AR Beekeeper · July 23, 2015, 11:11:34 AM

When you next inspect look for eggs, if you find eggs your queen is still there and is laying. Bees, it seems, can remove paint from their bodies without damage. This is why clipping a wing is a better mark than painting a dot. Clipping is permanent.

BeeMaster2 · July 23, 2015, 12:28:05 PM

Seabee,
Go catch a few drones and practice until you get it right. Then when you need to mark your queen you will have the confidence to do it. A couple of years ago I had funny looking marked queens (drones) in my apiary. I suspect right now that you probably don't plan on doing any queen markings for a while. I suggest you look into a queen marking holder. I have the one from Mann Lake that has a plunger and a blue flip close cover. It works real for holding the queen still and getting her in and out of it safely.
Jim

BeeMaster2 · July 23, 2015, 12:30:14 PM

Here is a link for the One Handed Queen Catcher. It works real well.
http://www.mannlakeltd.com/beekeeping-supplies/product/HD-101.html

GSF · July 23, 2015, 10:39:30 PM

Jim, I have one of those - nothing works well when it comes to catching a queen (lol) I take the frame she's on and lay it on the side. I gently put the catcher's opening over her and close it up being careful not to chop her feet and legs off. I then mark her. Be very careful when opening it up to release her if a lot of bees are on it. The very first one I did I looked real good because of the pile of bees and I saw she had got her upper half stuck sticking through the slots. I could have cut her in to.

Seabee8: Was she still wet when you put her back in there? If so then no doubt she got cleaned up as soon as she got home. If that's so - ain't it great to make a mistake and get away with it? You 'pose to let her dry before returning her. She'll see that blue pen coming next time and skee daddle.

I'm thinking if she was dead you'd probably seen her on the ground in front of the hive.

BeeMaster2 · July 23, 2015, 11:09:40 PM

Seabee,
When you paint your queen, bee sure to make sure the paint is dry before you put her back in the hive. If you use the One Handed Queen Catcher, release the plunger pressure and leave her in it. Let the paint dry enough that the smell does not cause the bees to kill the queen.
Jim

little john · July 24, 2015, 04:35:42 AM

I wouldn't write her off just yet - the bees may have cleaned all or some of the paint off. Depends on what you used.

I tried a Posca pen this year for the first time - it's taken me 3 applications on a test queen to get the paint to 'stick' - the girls just keep chewing it off ! Think I'll go back to using Humbrol enamel, even though it does take much longer to dry.
LJ

Seabee8 · July 27, 2015, 10:02:44 AM

I am happy to say my queen is alive and well. She was completely cleaned. I picked her up by the wings and dabbed her with the pen on the back of her thorax and put her into the queen catcher to allow the paint to dry and then put her back into the hive. I will wait a couple of days and check on her again.

Dallasbeek · July 27, 2015, 10:11:58 AM

Good for you. Congratulations.

Hi-Tech · July 27, 2015, 10:16:47 AM

Great news!

BeeMaster2 · July 27, 2015, 12:07:53 PM

Glad to here it.
Did you practice on your drones?
Jim

Michael Bush · July 27, 2015, 02:06:43 PM

If you haven't marked a thousand drones you are not yet ready to mark a queen.

KeyLargoBees · July 27, 2015, 06:15:13 PM

MB's little blue dot drone army ;-)