I Suppose I Broke the Rules of Year Color Marking Code for Queens.

[Ben Framed]

As reported here, by Baabees and others, I caught several swarms. Some from my own hives, as three were marked queens with the a proper yearly color of green, was clearly seen upon inspection. However some of these swarms were apparently new queens as these were not marked. Not being able to find a blue paint that would really stand out to be easily seen by my eye, I maked this years queens in Fluorescent Pink lol, simply for the convenience of a quick to the eye recognition of the queen. I was thinking this stand out color would be easier to see than the blue colors that I found, along with not being confused with any of the other yearly colors. I suppose it does not matter since I am not a queen or nuc salesman. lol  Just fun food for thought.

Phillip Hall

[Nock]

Since you mentioned this it got me to thinking. One of the packages I got this year had a white marked Russian hybrid. I just figured white was the color this year. Then your talking about blue. So I looked it up. White is supposed to be years ending in 1 or 6. So now my question. Is my Queen 4 year old or did they just use wrong color? 

[amymcg]

My packages were both marked green this year.  *shrug*


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[van from Arkansas]

Nock, I doubt paint would last four years intact.  I would only expect a speck of paint would remain after four years.

[Nock]

Nock, I doubt paint would last four years intact.  I would only expect a speck of paint would remain after four years.

Yeah I wouldn?t think so either.

[Ben Framed]

Mr Van is probably right, The first queens that I marked red, my first season, are almost void of the red paint. I am thinking I will re-mark them in the red just to make sure I do not get them mixed up with a new queen in case one of or more of these queens are superseded or swarm.  That way I will readly know they are the same ol gals. lol
Most likely the people you got your package marked white for easy recognition of spotting your queen. That is just a guess. Got you PM by the way, thanks.

Phillip Hall

[JurassicApiary]

The color system is nice for those who have lots and lots of hives. For the rest of us, as you mentioned Phillip, who are not in the business of selling NUC?s or queens, I only keep one color pen in my box and mark all of mine with that just for quick ID when looking for them. I use an app to track my inspections and I have Queen info notes in there to so I have a record of their age should I forget.

[Ben Framed]

The color system is nice for those who have lots and lots of hives. For the rest of us, as you mentioned Phillip, who are not in the business of selling NUC?s or queens, I only keep one color pen in my box and mark all of mine with that just for quick ID when looking for them. I use an app to track my inspections and I have Queen info notes in there to so I have a record of their age should I forget.

Thank you Jurassic for your reply and input. I have heard others speak of an app as you are describing. I should look into this further. Any suggestions?

Phillip Hall

[JurassicApiary]

I use BeePlus Beekeeping Manager and like it a lot.  It tracks anything and everything including the equipment and cost of such for each hive.  It's as detailed as you want it to be and has options for quick inspections too.  One neat/fun feature is the option to view forage areas.  If you tell it accurate locations of hives, then define the radius you want, e.g. 3 miles, 4 miles, etc. it will overlay that radius on a satellite map so you can see what's within range that each hive.  I never looked at foragers the same after I saw it--we're so used to roads and things, not looking at maps from the birds ...errrr....bees eye view.  ;). Anyway, I find the app very useful for tracking my inspections.  It's a one time small fee for the app, not a subscription, which I like too, and it's updated regularly.

[Ben Framed]

That sounds good. Thanks JurassicApiary

Phillip Hall