# Hard to find her!!



## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

bee_wrangler said:


> but i could only find 4 of the queens to mark.
> Any queen finding strategies to suggest??


Welcome to the real world of queen rearing. This weeks mating yard had 168 nucs. Took 2 of us two days to catch all the queens. Several we couldn't find on the first try. I go back later in the day, or first thing the second day, and can find most of the ones we missed. Still, of the 168, there were 3 I just could not find. Cells out tomorrow. Forcast says 2-4" of rain. Cute.

Do you smoke the nucs before you look for the queen?....Don't! When you take the frames out to find the queen, what do you do with them?....Put them in an empty box with a cloth on top...so they won't run. Do you look in the box after all the frames are out?...I find a lot there later in the day when it's hot. Do you have a feeder in the nuc where the queen can hide?...grrr...feeders can be a pain.

The more you smoke them, and the more commotion you make, the more the queens will run. Also, the longer you have the nuc open the more the queens will run.


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## bee_wrangler (Jan 21, 2007)

i worked without smoke and tried to be methodical. 

Quote: Do you look in the box after all the frames are out?...I find a lot there later in the day when it's hot.

no I did'nt look in the corners of the box or behind the division board feeder. It's my first time searching for my own queens instead of finding commercially produced ones. I really want to be careful! I also want to mark them before the population i the nuc gets large or i transfer them to singles.

Dan


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

All I can say is bee carefull! When I was picking queens yesterday, I couldnt find the queen but happy with her pattern so I slid the inner cover on and what was on the inside of the inner cover... yup... the queen. I think I rolled her but I am optomistic... maybe she was playing dead!


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

Try puting a frame of open brood from a different hive/nuc into the hive/nuc you're looking for the queen in, put on the cover and wait 3 to 5 minutes. Open it back up and pull out that frame you added, the queen will usually be there checking out the strange open brood in her hive.


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## Joseph Clemens (Feb 12, 2005)

On a similar note: If you carefully nurture grafted queen cells - then place one into the hive/Nuc where you are looking for the queen, she will most likely, promptly go for your queen cell to either check it out or destroy it and you may then be able to apprehend her in the process.


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## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

it's probably just me, but very dark queens have always been difficult for me to see. a dab of bright paint (when those other girls don't instantly scrub it off) helps.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

gotta find the queen first tec!


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## bee_wrangler (Jan 21, 2007)

gotta find her first is right!! I was searching for her to mark her with a pretty royal red dot. I'm sure she will be harder to find when i move the nuc to a single deep.

thanks for the suggestions everyone

Dan


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## tecumseh (Apr 26, 2005)

the chef is always concerned about the detail... me I could never quite remember to put the salt in the soup.

so bee wrangler I would guess??? you have noted all the common tricks like... first glimpsing the frame from an acute angle (not straight on to the face of the frame), being quite through at looking at the bottom edge of the frames (many queens seem to like this area and quite typically dodge from one side of the frame to the other). most queens will run from smoke... so if you smoke a small box hard at the entrance the queen can quite often be found on the top cover.

if you are using mini nuc equipment??? then first of all (and before smoking or pulling frames) I simply slide a wood bound excluder under the box. this keeps stuff from falling to the ground, acts to support the small frames and keeps the queen from climbing below the area where you are actively looking.

and last, but not least, when a queen seems difficult to locate and after looking everywhere else first look at or about the entrance (some queens will run straight out the door at the first smell of smoke) and then look in the mirrow (an assistant helps here) and make certain she ain't settin' on you cap or your shoulder.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

http://www.bushfarms.com/beesqueenspotting.htm


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## Michael Palmer (Dec 29, 2006)

tecumseh said:


> and last, but not least, when a queen seems difficult to locate and after looking everywhere else first look at or about the entrance (some queens will run straight out the door at the first smell of smoke)


Exactly, so leave the smoker on the truck, and the matches in your pocket. You don't really need smoke...not even a little bit.


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## danwyns (Nov 11, 2007)

What color are you looking for? I ask because we transitioned from Italians to Carnis this past year and I really struggled for the first few weeks. Big shiny yellow abdomens stuck out [edit by mod]. With the black queens my eyes seem to lock more onto the shape disparity instead of color difference. I catch quite a few in the corner of my eye, and I've found the "unfocused focus", like those magic eye posters from the 90s, where you almost look through individual bees and let the mind lock onto the oddity in the sea of repetition. I used to get so frustrated caging queens, but now it's probably my favorite beek task because it's such a different pace from the rest of the work. Be patient, you'll get better with repetition.

dw


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## Wax Moth (Jun 15, 2008)

And copying an experienced beek is good too. I worked out the reason I was not seeing queens was because i was being too slow and careful and that the queens were running off the frames before I got them out.


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