# I slopped paint on the queen's eye



## BuckeyeBeek (Apr 16, 2013)

Man I'm really PO'd at myself over this one. Yeah, I've marked many queens successfully but this time got a little careless and got paint on her head and over one of her eyes. I expect this will significantly affect her ability to function now and the colony will supersede her, but just checking in to see you all had any thoughts on it or experiences you can share. Maybe not all is lost?


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## johnbeejohn (Jun 30, 2013)

I had one that I soaked with a paint marker don't know if I got it on the eye tho they kept her around


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## Lburou (May 13, 2012)

It happens all the time, she will be fine. Practice on a few drones to regain your confidence.


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## enjambres (Jun 30, 2013)

Perhaps in the dark world of the hive, the one-eyed Queen is King. (I know, I know a lot of mixed-up stuff there, but I couldn't resist.)

I was at a bee supplier the other day and they were marking queens. One of the workers had mislaid his pen so I offered mine of a different brand, and obviously, slightly runnier consistency. He did a fine job of marking the queen, however in the process at least two workers also got a bit 'o white. I pictured some newbie who now will be struggling when they find _three_ marked "queens" in one nuc (Hopefully they won't leap to idea of splitting them....)

Enj.


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## Agis Apiaries (Jul 22, 2014)

As she's already mated and isn't likely to need to leave the hive anytime soon, she out to do just find.


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## BuckeyeBeek (Apr 16, 2013)

Thanks everyone for the replies, I feel a lot better!


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## tazke (Mar 23, 2015)

It happens, I consider it a, "glad I got that over with" situation.
I always dab the pen on someplace first to get rid of the glob of paint on the tip. 
Also, if you practice on other bees, use a different color. 
One time I sent my daughter to a hive to practice on drones, 30 min later she was still in the hive. I walked down and asked her how you doing? She said ok but there are a lot of drones in here, I don't even have a 1/4 of them marked.
Somehow she thought I said Mark all drones. Very funny.


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## BuckeyeBeek (Apr 16, 2013)

BuckeyeBeek said:


> Man I'm really PO'd at myself over this one. Yeah, I've marked many queens successfully but this time got a little careless and got paint on her head and over one of her eyes. I expect this will significantly affect her ability to function now and the colony will supersede her, but just checking in to see you all had any thoughts on it or experiences you can share. Maybe not all is lost?


UPDATE: Checked back in on Saturday and things have taken a turn...
The bad news is they must have thought she was a one eyed bandit because she is nowhere to be found, they either killed her or kicked her out.

The good news is they left me with 4 full frames of capped cells, there must be 20 or more queen cells there, so I made up 4 mating nucs and probably just in time. I expect they should be hatching out any time.


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

Must have swarmed if they left behind 20 cells. Maybe you marked her *too* well?


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## BuckeyeBeek (Apr 16, 2013)

jwcarlson said:


> Must have swarmed if they left behind 20 cells. Maybe you marked her *too* well?


This was a trapped swarm that was hived a week earlier. They were just getting started.


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