Queen marking gone woefully wrong!

dfizer · May 25, 2014, 10:28:28 PM

Today I was locating and marking queens when the pen I was using decided to deliver a glob of paint that was far more than I expected. This poor queen got marked and then some. She had paint on her head which really worried me. She was scraping at it with her front legs to try to remove it however it looked like she was not too successful. Not knowing what to do, I simply put her back in the colony.
Any suggestions?
At this point, it is what it is. In the future should this happen again what should I do? Yes, I tossed that marking pen and am buying another one soon. Had anyone else had this happen?
Will this queen survive? I am going to give it about a week and check back to see if she's still there - if she's not ill requeen and go from there.
Just before this happened, I had a queen fly away after I mishandled her.... Ugh - this was not a great day.
David

ThomasGR · May 26, 2014, 03:46:52 AM

Yes, this happened also to me. Its not a faulty pen, it is just the first time that needs to press somewhere else, not on the queen. After the liquid comes to the edge of the pen, marking is very easy, just a touch.

My queen also had a "bath" of RED color, on the wings, head and antenna. Workers ,with no delay, started to clean her. This queen seems fine ( 1 year after marking )

Robo · May 26, 2014, 08:51:48 AM

Always prime the pen by pressing in to something first. Think of it as a paint brush. Get the amount of paint you want on the tip before apply it to the queen. The paint markers build up pressure with temperature change, and when you first press, it releases the pressure (and paint). That is why all my covers have paint dots on them. I prime the pen on them and then just transfer the paint from the pen tip to the queen.

This is quite common if you leave the paint pen in the sun between markings.

RHBee · May 26, 2014, 10:55:43 AM

I had the same thing happen last year. I don't recall losing the queen. I was using a water based pen and smeared red all over.
I started marking something else first.

Thanks Robo, I thought the cause may be temperature related but wasn't sure.

David sounds like you just had a bad day. I've had my share too. Don't let it get you down.

sc-bee · May 26, 2014, 02:12:58 PM

Thought I wanted to have all marked queens. Not sure yet..... that guy that marks them..... fumble fingers, drops them, they fly, paint all over the place, you name it he does it. He is a real klutz :-D

ForrrestB · May 26, 2014, 03:28:44 PM

Pics or it never happened. :-D

NotactJack · May 26, 2014, 03:59:00 PM

this queen is about a week out after I bathed her in green paint. I got her eyes I though she would have bee superseded but no she is laying like crazy.

Kathyp · May 26, 2014, 04:48:49 PM

unless you really need to know that age of your queen, why bother? it's useful if you want to do scheduled replacement. other than that, it's not worth the risk to the queen....

bud1 · May 26, 2014, 05:44:10 PM

I am with Kathy but you gota mark them. watch the video of robo on his website

dfizer · May 26, 2014, 06:56:41 PM

I got in the nuc today due to the incessant need to know if she survived this ordeal. She was very easy to spot since she was the only one COVERED in green paint. She was acting like a normal queen so maybe all is not lost.
I do like to have the queens marked since not only do I like to know their age I like to know if a hive has swarmed or not. I think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks...
David

ForrrestB · May 26, 2014, 07:52:33 PM

Quote from: dfizer on May 26, 2014, 06:56:41 PM
I do like to have the queens marked since not only do I like to know their age I like to know if a hive has swarmed or not. I think the benefits outweigh the drawbacks...
David

Yeah, there are many times I would like/need to know the location of the queen and yet I am one of those people who can never seem to spot her, at least without having the hives open for an hour each.

GSF · May 26, 2014, 09:13:44 PM

Forrest, you're like me. I leave the hives open so long she finally crawls to the top and says, "Here I am!, now shut the dang thing!"

sc-bee · May 26, 2014, 09:19:52 PM

Quote from: kathyp on May 26, 2014, 04:48:49 PM
unless you really need to know that age of your queen, why bother? it's useful if you want to do scheduled replacement. other than that, it's not worth the risk to the queen....

Most of my local queens are black. Hard to spot in a populous hive if I need to. So I thought I would try marking. Bud I have watched Robos video more than once .... I have also watched Gone With The Wind... Watching Gone With the Wind didn't make me look like Clark Gabel. Catch my drift :-D

dfizer · May 27, 2014, 08:19:24 AM

I have some very good news! Sunday after my queen flew off, I when to the place where I last saw her (front porch) and put an empty deep hive body with two frames of drawn comb in hopes that she comes back. Honestly I didn't hold out much hope that she'd return. This morning when I went to let the dog out I spotted a very small cluster of bees (no more than 10) on the inside wall of the deep hive body. Could it be my queen, I asked myself. Low and behold it indeed was my queen with a very small group of attendants. I captured her, marked her, then returned her to the hive she came from. What a great start to this day!
David

RHBee · May 27, 2014, 09:04:08 AM

Glad to hear things worked out. Good idea on the bait hive.

BeeMaster2 · May 27, 2014, 12:42:27 PM

Quote from: GSF on May 26, 2014, 09:13:44 PM
Forrest, you're like me. I leave the hives open so long she finally crawls to the top and says, "Here I am!, now shut the dang thing!"

:-D
Bossy arn't they.
:-D

Intheswamp · May 27, 2014, 01:04:17 PM

Quote from: dfizer on May 27, 2014, 08:19:24 AM
I have some very good news! <snip> Low and behold it indeed was my queen with a very small group of attendants. I captured her, marked her, then returned her to the hive she came from. What a great start to this day!
David

:th_thumbsupup:
Fantastic!!!! I know this was a great "pick me up"...sometimes it all works out regardless how bad we think things are, eh? :)

Ed

Intheswamp · May 27, 2014, 01:11:50 PM

I've pondered the idea of marking my queens for ease of spotting them and to see if they've been replaced for whatever reason. Probably white paint. For me at this point in my beekeeping journey, I don't see the need for keeping up with their ages. My mentor tends to think the second and third year queens do admirably well and so far I haven't any evidence to argue with that. With the few hives that I have I figure that I can watch brood patterns and populations to tell if something negative is going on queen-wise.

For now though, if I can't find Her Majesty easily, I'll just deal with her coming to the top of the hive and throwing a propolis ball at me. :-D

I might go ahead and get a pen and practice on some lucky drones, though. ;)

Ed

Joe D · May 27, 2014, 03:18:50 PM

It won't help for long, but when you requeen, put in a Cordovan, you can spot her. I went with Cordovan two years ago, and the ones I replaced last year I used Russian.

Joe

dfizer · May 27, 2014, 03:51:55 PM

You guys cant imagine how happy I was to see that little ball of bees. All of the attendants were facing her. She was at the center of all the bees. The pattern looked like a flower! I was so jacked that I marked her then put her directly back into the hive. I wonder if I should have put her in a queen cage and "reintroduced" her that way. I assumed that they would readily accept her. It would be just my luck to find her marked carcass laying outside the hive, belly up when take my next look.

If that happens to be the case, I'll deal with it; as for now I'm living in the moment and am almost to the point of dancing on the hood of my car with the music blaring!

David

:-D :laugh: