# Marking Queens



## Cristian Radut (Jul 15, 2007)

Anyone who follows http://members.aol.com/queenb95/russian.html can see a queen who's "wearing" a number. In fact, it's a small piece of paper glued on the queen.

I'm intereted in getting some to mark my queens. My brother in law lives in California, so i think i'll ask for him to buy for me.

What i need to know is a producer or directly a site from where i can buy those small pieces of paper with numbers that can be applied on queens instead of marking them with the marker. 

I appreciate every answer


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## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

You can find them here:



http://www.betterbee.com/products.asp?dept=629


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## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

I believe Beeworks in Canada sells them. Also I think Mann Lake may carry them.


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## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

Mann Lake doesn't have them listed in their online catalog, the only one I could find is the link posted above.


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## Dan Williamson (Apr 6, 2004)

Here is the link to them at Beeworks. http://www.beeworks.com/catalog/index.php?main_page=product_info&cPath=10&products_id=125


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## Borgnik (Jul 9, 2005)

Betterbee and Beeworks (www.beeworks.com) both carry numbering kits. While having a number on the thorax sounds cool, there may be a couple of things you don't know about yet. The numbers can come off depending on the adhesive you use (the stuff Betterbee sends isn't great) and a number of different adhesives can be used and none of them are perfect. There's a learning curve on how to deal with a squirming queen, propolis on the fingers, the wind blowing those discs away, picking up the discs with the hand/eye coordination required, smearing the adhesive all over the thorax and wing bases, and less than ideal environmental conditions in the field. If you use a queen marking tube to hold the queen it takes quite a bit of pressure to hold her still under a square opening and you can suffocate her doing that if it takes too long.

I have found that just numbering the hives then picking up and marking queens with paint works much better for me and makes the process faster and easier on the queen. You have to keep records of the queen number for genetics/lineage, etc. anyway and you can do that by numbering your hives and tagging the queen information that way. The only thing you lose is if she swarms and you catch her you can't tell exactly which hive she came from.

I don't mean to discourage you on marking with numbers as they look cool and can provide a small advantage if you are breeding queens. If you only have a few hives it shouldn't be a big problem and practice helps.


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## Cristian Radut (Jul 15, 2007)

Well done, straight to the point!
Thank you, Gentlemen! 
If there's a need for advice, i'm ready to help as much as i can!
Thanx again!


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## Cristian Radut (Jul 15, 2007)

Borgnik said:


> I don't mean to discourage you on marking with numbers as they look cool and can provide a small advantage if you are breeding queens. If you only have a few hives it shouldn't be a big problem and practice helps.



Compared to american queen breeder, I'm a small queen breeder; this year i've sold in my country around 283 queens and there's still a lot of job to do for a month and a half. I intend to use the "Queen Numbering Kit" for the 5 mother queens that i have, but not necessarily for the rest of production, it would surely cost me much time, and you have shown it also.
Thank you for your good intentions, to prevent doesn't mean to discourage! 
Thanks for the advice!


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## Radar (Sep 4, 2006)

Cristian

Numbers can be obtained in Europe www.bivo.de ,www.carl-fritz.de, www.swienty. com and others 

When using numbers it helps to have a hive card with the queen number on in each hive. You will find at certain times of the year a mated queen will explode the myth that they do not fly except when swarming and occasionally you will find two marked queens in one hive or a dead marked queen outside a hive where she should not have been.


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## Troy (Feb 9, 2006)

I was thinking of marking a queen using some blaze orange to make her easy to find.

I was thinking to take a toothpick and spray some orange paint on a piece of cardboard and just dab the toothpick in it and touch it to her thorax.

Spray paints generally dry very quickly and so I thought this might work well. 

The best part is that I already have the spray can of blaze orange in the garage.

Is there any reason that I should not do this?


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## Cristian Radut (Jul 15, 2007)

Radar said:


> Cristian
> 
> Numbers can be obtained in Europe www.bivo.de ,www.carl-fritz.de, www.swienty. com and others
> 
> When using numbers it helps to have a hive card with the queen number on in each hive. You will find at certain times of the year a mated queen will explode the myth that they do not fly except when swarming and occasionally you will find two marked queens in one hive or a dead marked queen outside a hive where she should not have been.





Ok, it comes closer to my home! I have already made an order from swienty, with their local distributor, so...

Thanks a lot, Radar!


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## Troy (Feb 9, 2006)

I bought one of these queen marking kits and never used it. 

I found it and opened it up last night and the glue has gone hard.

What kind of glue is this? I need to get some glue today - what should I buy?


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## kensfarm (Jul 13, 2006)

I thought those numbers were for queen racing!


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## Velbert (Mar 19, 2006)

*spraypaint*

If you do it that way leave her caged so the bees cant get to her for a day or two and give the paints oder time to clear up or the may kill her.


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## Cristian Radut (Jul 15, 2007)

kensfarm said:


> I thought those numbers were for queen racing!


Hahaa, that's nice thinking! 
The more eggs, the better the queen?


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## Cristian Radut (Jul 15, 2007)

I intended to order some JZ/BZ queen cages from Dadant, around 400 pieces, 0,14 $/cage. The shipping is expected to be around 30 $ and I finally made the order for a location in San Francisco. I also commanded two chinese grafting tools + 25 Nicot Roller Cages from Beeworks and shippig will be around 17 $.
Why is shipping in America so expensive?


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## peggjam (Mar 4, 2005)

Good question, one to which I have no answer.


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