# Queen Fainting during marking?



## WI-beek (Jul 14, 2009)

How often do queens faint during marking? 

I had one I thought I had killed a little over a week ago because she was not moving only breathing and her rear end was open and squirted out clear liquid from her rear as well. She would not move for at least ten minutes or more when I put her on a top bar and closed up the hive expecting her to die. A week later I found a very nice pattern of eggs and larva and a beautiful marked queen laying away. I was dumbfounded.

Does this happen often. I'm not sure she fainted. I have a feeling she had a near death experience, lol!


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## canoemaker (Feb 19, 2011)

It's happened to me several times as I go through my mating nucs to mark queens. There I times that I thought perhaps I injured her as I watch her lying there quivering, but otherwise not moving. When I come back later to check on her, she is laying away like crazy as though nothing had happened. Still, I've never heard anyone refer to that behavior as the queen "fainting." Could they be like those goats that fall down and seem paralyzed when they get frightened?


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## JRG13 (May 11, 2012)

Sounds like a defensive response and feigning death?


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## westernbeekeeper (May 2, 2012)

Trying to contact other bees in the afterlife, maybe? Dunno.


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## jrbbees (Apr 4, 2010)

druging your bees with paint fumes.


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## Rather-b-beekeeping (May 7, 2011)

I have seen queens experience short term paralysis during marking. It definitely isn't the norm though. The first time it happened it kind of freaked me out, but within a few minutes the queen was up and going again. I'm guessing that it could likely be related to paint fumes as Jrbbees said or maybe related to simply handling them.


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

I've heard it said, don't remember who said it tho, that it's from her abdomen getting squeezed a bit too tightly. I've had it happen to me, it seems to happen more when the weather is hot, but that could be just me being in a hurry and squeezing her too tightly.


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## DC Bees (Sep 24, 2009)

I like the Painter paint markers from Walmart they are safe and nontoxic.There are many colors to choose from and i have never had any problems with queens.


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## Joseph Clemens (Feb 12, 2005)

I have had queens "fainting" a few times during handling/marking, but either I'm getting better at handling them (I'm fairly sure that I am), or the strain of bee I'm working with now is less prone to that behavior or both.


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## WI-beek (Jul 14, 2009)

Im fairly certain it was not fumes from titebond II that caused it. If it was not a true case of fainting from panic or something like that, I would bet it was from a lack of air from squeezing to hard. If you watch a video where bees are sprayed down with soapy water, they die or appear to die in seconds. Explanation given is they have a very fast metabolism and die suffocate almost instantly when there trachea is blocked. I would guess squeezing hard enough would cause the same effect. So maybe they simply pass out from a lack of oxygen and it takes a bit of time for them to recover neurologically.

I will certainly bee more careful in the future.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

It is a common enough occurrence. Documented by several of the old time queen rearers most of whom were clipping not marking...


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## Joseph Clemens (Feb 12, 2005)

This morning, as I was sorting out the mated/laying queens, and marking them. I was holding one by the wings, she curved the tip of her abdomen up towards her head (many of them do this), and exerted her sting, then she "fainted" in that position for about fifteen or twenty seconds. I quickly painted her, after that she recovered and seemed just fine.


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## Adrian Quiney WI (Sep 14, 2007)

They would be a lot easier to catch and mark if they would faint more often.


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## theriverhawk (Jun 5, 2009)

It's happened to me once in the last 4 years. Others have told me it happens to them about the same.


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## WI-beek (Jul 14, 2009)

checked in on her again today and she is still laying well and my disc is sticking tight, lol! Hope i dont have any more scares like this again any time soon.


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## BeeCurious (Aug 7, 2007)

Yesterday I was freshing up the marking on a queen and she wasn't moving afterwards. I placed her on a frame and she just laid there surrounded by caretakers ... Ten or fifteen minutes later I checked and she was walking around looking fine.


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## WI-beek (Jul 14, 2009)

I have marked several more since the fainter with no issues so far.


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## Vance G (Jan 6, 2011)

I thought I had crunched an exceptional queen I decided to mark so I could find her later. I have neuropathy in my fingers and I have to be very careful. She slowly came back to life and is still a wonderful queen. But I quit marking queens just the same.


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## WI-beek (Jul 14, 2009)

"But I quit marking queens just the same."

Quitter, lol! Dont quit, try again. I am glad I did not give up, it has got so easy its almost feels normal. I was getting an adrenalin rush believe it or not when marking queens, lol, I was breathing so hard as I was almost panicking when doing it. Now its just no big deal, I keep my push up tube, glue, and numbered disk in a zip lock bag in my bucket. When at the yard I have the tube ready so when I spot a queen unmarked I just grab her by the wings and drop her in, cover the tube till I get the pusher, mark her, then let her dry for a bit while I start on the next colony. A couple times now I have found the next hives queen right away and have to lean the frame up till I release the other one so I can mark her. I hope to have all my queens marked by fall.


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