Do most beeks mark their queens?

[Bob Wilson]

Do most beeks mark their queens? I never thought to, with a limited number of hives, yet I wonder about it now that I want to know what is happening with this swarming hive.
How many of you marks your queens, or only in certain situations?

[The15thMember]

Under normal circumstances I don't mark my queens.  I have 6 hives (well technically 7 right now, but by tomorrow I'm pretty sure it'll be 6).  It's rare that I don't inspect a particular hive once every 2 weeks, so I'd likely catch a supersedure if one was happening, and if I miss one, I don't really care that much.  I'd rather have a supersedure that I didn't catch than accidentally injure a queen marking her.  However I did mark a queen once, when I had a hive that was swarming itself to death, and a bunch of virgin queens were running around in the hive.  I arbitrarily picked one queen to be the winner, marked her, and removed the rest.  That way if I missed a queen, I'd know if the queen I was seeing was the winning queen or not.  That actually did happen, but I never found the marked queen, so the two must have fought and the marked queen lost.   

[Ben Framed]

How good are you at marking Bob? I posted a video here about a month ago which might help you if you have no experience or a mentor.

[beesnweeds]

I keep bees as a hobby and have a mix of 20 hives and nucs and mark all queens. Its nice to know when they supersede, it lets me know why a hive is behind the rest. I found most queens last 2 years. a few 3 years and I only had one queen go 4 years before she was superseded.  Funny thing is that queen never had a booming hive, kind of steady as she goes and produced 2 or 3 supers a year.  When it comes to grafting I don't care about age so much as I do about whether the queen came out of winter with a strong hive without having to supplement feed. 

A good mnemonic:  Bees          Want          Yellow        Roses        Growing
                             Blue           White         Yellow        Red           Green
    Years ending in:  0                1               2               3               4
                             5                6               7               8               9

I used the tube and plunger and even picked up queens for years until I tried a one handed queen catcher.  Practice on drones.

[van from Arkansas]

Bob, I don?t mark.  Most of my queens are Cordovan Italian so no need to mark, naturally marked at birth.

[Acebird]

Marking poses risks so I don't mark.

[Ben Framed]

Marking poses risks so I don't mark.

Ace you are right, I did lose a really nice queen last year, after marking she was balled. I had went down the line marking newly mated and laying queens. All went well until this particular one. She was BUTE! (As Opie told his paw concerning his black eye), lol.  She looked like Mr Vans Alpha and already had a couple frames of well laid out capped brood.

When I first began marking, my concern was hurting the queen in some way. So, I bought one of those queen marking cages. After the careful handling and losing that queen anyway, I am over that.  Now I reach in and grab them! . lol. No problems so far.

I mark for the reasons that Bob first explained. I want to know, if when I recuperate a swarm, was this swarm from one of my own hives. Or, if I inspect, is the queen, the original queen that I think she is? If marked there is no doubt she is the same queen, if not marked, my original has been replaced or swarmed etc. This does help in that respect. Not to mention easier faster spotting of the queen. I have found (many) queens look exactly the same unless of course, your were to put them under a microscope.  Marking my queens, leaves not doubt. Works for me. I offered to help Bob with the opportunity for a better way to begin marking queens for beginners than I had in my beginning, IF he is a beginner at marking. (Safe and effective)

[AR Beekeeper]

I always considered clipping a wing to be more important than marking with paint, but I learned to find queens early on in my beekeeping.  Clipping is the only sure method to identify a colony's queen to be the original, and not a daughter. 

It also helps with swarming in that it buys a little time when swarm cells are found, and it causes the prime swarm to return to the hive when the queen can't fly with it.  Of course this only works with hives that are checked every 7 to 9 days, or are in a home apiary that is under observation.

[Nock]

I don?t. May come a time I need to.

[TheHoneyPump]

I mark every queen/nuc I sell to the novice hobbiest.  I do not mark for the pros or in large numbers unless requested and for a addon fee.
In my own hives, only the queens that I am tracking for as showing briliance to graft from I will mark.  The regular mutts pumping honey I do not mark.

[Acebird]

I mark for the reasons that Bob first explained. I want to know, if when I recuperate a swarm, was this swarm from one of my own hives. Or, if I inspect, is the queen, the original queen that I think she is? If marked there is no doubt she is the same queen, if not marked, my original has been replaced or swarmed etc. This does help in that respect.

Normal marking is by color that represents a year.  If you have beekeepers around you there is doubt as to the origin of the swarm unless you witness the swarm in action.

[CoolBees]

I don't mark queens. Too much work, and I don't want to risk hurting one. I don't care if they supercede, all I care about is that there's a productive queen. Only a couple of times have I had to go thru a large hive twice to find the queen.

I've actually had it take longer to find a young queen in a single box. On that occasion, the hive had brood and I couldn't find her. I think I went thru every frame at least 4 times, slower and slower. ... in exasperation I checked the lid which I had set aside at the start - and there she was, with 5 other bees. 

... but that's just me. 

[Oldbeavo]

We mark most of the queens we find in general inspections.
It makes them easier to find, especially if running around the box and not on frames.
Very young queens are hard to mark as they run around quicker.
We don't stick to calender colors as we find that light blue is the easiest to find.

[BeeMaster2]

I mark my queens when I find them. I usually use a One Handed Queen Marker. It makes it easier and safer. This year I was marking one by hand and she ended up with a blue wing. I will probably never see her again. I used to use only white but now I?m using the correct colors. I plan on getting the fluorescent ones now. Especially the yellow.
Jim Altmiller

[BeeMaster2]

I added a pole for this.
You can select up to 3 answers.
Jim Altmiller

[Acebird]

in exasperation I checked the lid which I had set aside at the start

Oh baby, always check that lid and never place it away from the hive.  One of the reasons I like inner covers because you can shake the bees off into the hive.

[Seeb]

in exasperation I checked the lid which I had set aside at the start - and there she was, with 5 other bees

Glad you shared this CB, had not thought about that, good lesson

[Ben Framed]

 >This year I was marking one by hand and she ended up with a blue wing.

I had the same thing happen my first year with a one handed queen catcher. I was concerned about that and posted here. They did replace her Jim. I did not want that to happen as I bought her form a fellow in Georgia known for gentle genetics.

[van from Arkansas]

I always considered clipping a wing to be more important than marking with paint, but I learned to find queens early on in my beekeeping.  Clipping is the only sure method to identify a colony's queen to be the original, and not a daughter. 

It also helps with swarming in that it buys a little time when swarm cells are found, and it causes the prime swarm to return to the hive when the queen can't fly with it.  Of course this only works with hives that are checked every 7 to 9 days, or are in a home apiary that is under observation.

AR, if a fella has a Cordovan queen breed to Italian drones as I, the queen always throws Italian daughters, Cordovan drones.  So a supercedute would result in Italian queen would prove a different queen without marking.  As I stated earlier Cordovan are marked at hatch, by Mother Nature so if an Italian queen showed up, I would know she was new.

[BeeMaster2]

Van,
If you have Cordovan Drones why would you not expect Cordovan Queens?
Jim Altmiller