# Mark New Queen before laying?



## hfrysinger (Feb 15, 2008)

Would you mark a queen before you see her eggs? I'm thinking that maybe she has not had her flight yet. But maybe it doesn't matter if she is marked on her flight?
Howard


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## Ross (Apr 30, 2003)

I have marked a number of virgins that went on to mate and lay.


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## BigDaddyDS (Aug 28, 2007)

I hold off marking queens until I see eggs. The reason is that I sometimes get a "goober" of paint that covers more of her thorax than I want it to, and I don't want to accidentally inhibit her wing movements if she hasn't performed her mating flight yet.

Of course, if YOU are more careful than I am...

DS


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## tarheit (Mar 26, 2003)

It shouldn't matter in most cases. I have read somewhere that in some areas where the marked virgins make better targets for birds or other pests that eat the queens in flight.

-Tim


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## beemandan (Dec 5, 2005)

I usually don't mark virgins. They fly really well. They can easily fly away when you are handling them. If they haven't made any mating flights they may not be able to find their way back to the hive entrance. I lost a few before I decided to wait until after they were laying.


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## HVH (Feb 20, 2008)

Since I let the queens emerge in an incubator, I can mark the queens in the comfort of the house and the queens have never taken flight. I have also tried marking outdoors only to watch the queen fly away. Usually she makes it back to her hive. Other threads have mentioned the use of queen socks (kind of like a tube of mosquito netting that hands can enter from either end). I currently use a marking tube when I discover an unmarked queen in the yard. The marking tube is a plastic cylinder with a number 5 cloth closure on one end and a soft foam plunger on the other. You add the queen to the tube and then use the foam plunger to push the queen against the cloth mesh. The queens bald spot can be positioned within the mesh in such a way as to make adding a little paint quite simple - you just let off of the pressure a little and let the queen move a little until positioned just right.


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## Chef Isaac (Jul 26, 2004)

The queen sock is call a queen muff. I love it and use mine a lot.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I used to try to mark them whenever I found them, but as mentioned, a virgin queen will fly too easily and you lose a lot of them.


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## BerkeyDavid (Jan 29, 2004)

Michael Bush said:


> I used to try to mark them whenever I found them, but as mentioned, a virgin queen will fly too easily and you lose a lot of them.


I lost one tonight. I missed a swarm but found a number of swarm cells that were just hatching. I caged the queens yesterday, made up some nucs, and tonight put the virgins into introduction cages in the nucs, some over emerging bees, some over nectar, and added some syrup to the frames where there was none.

Anyway trying to get one of the queens out of the cage I got frustrated, took off the screen, and there she goes! In the past they had always flown back to my hand, but not tonight. Those virgins are flighty little girls!

But seems to me the best reason that has been posted not to mark them before mating is that it could help birds find them.


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## Docking (Mar 13, 2008)

I have a queen that i would like to mark... I wear gloves and not yet ready to deal with the stings if I don't have to. is there a way I can catch her and mark her while wearing gloves? Do I need to keep her in a cage til she is dry or can I mark her passing by and let her dry on the comb?


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## HVH (Feb 20, 2008)

I usually take a glove off to catch the queen in the apiary and mark her. I cannot imagine marking her with gloves on. If you aren't careful, you can end up marking her eyes, wings, or spiracles. The queen really needs to be firmly immobilized (without too much force) so she can't move while you mark her. Some people grab the legs on one side of the queen but I have injured queens doing this and figured it best to use the queen marking tubes. After adding a dab of paint with a fine nail head you simply remove the pressure from the plunger and let the queen sit in the tube a few moments while the paint dries. 
I like the queen marking tubes because the queen can stay in the tube until you close up the hive and then re-introduced at your convenience into the front entrance. It might just be me, but I always worry about the queen when I release her into the hive and then continue to manipulate frames. Over the years I have rolled only a few queens but that is enough to justify releasing her after the hive is closed up. When I find a hive with a marked queen and plan on some major frame rearrangements, I still like to cage her.


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## BerkeyDavid (Jan 29, 2004)

Docking said:


> I have a queen that i would like to mark... I wear gloves and not yet ready to deal with the stings if I don't have to. is there a way I can catch her and mark her while wearing gloves? Do I need to keep her in a cage til she is dry or can I mark her passing by and let her dry on the comb?


Practice marking some drones to gain confidence, it is really pretty easy, not as hard as you think. Surprisingly the attendant bees don't seem to go after you as you grasp the queen. I have marked about 12 queens this year and rec'd no stings. And I am an amateur at it, my first year doing it.


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## rw3212 (Apr 8, 2008)

*Marking fluid ???*

What is the easiest to obtain and use for queen marking? Can Tester's model paint be used?


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## RayMarler (Jun 18, 2008)

Here is a link to where you can get a queen catcher, queen marking tube, and queen marking pens, at Mannlake...

http://www.mannlakeltd.com/catalog/page39.html

Here is a link to where you can get the same queen marking pens much cheaper, it's where I got mine...

http://ami.thomasnet.com/viewitems/...markers-sanford-uni-posca-water-based-markers

These pens work real well, I've used them for 3 years now.


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## BigDaddyDS (Aug 28, 2007)

Testor's model paint works real well, along with a blunted toothpick for a dabber. But, keep in mind that Wal-Mart, K-Mart and the rest don't carry model paint (or plastic models, for that matter) anymore. (Apparently they had a lawsuit against them after some kid huffed a can of model paint and died.)

But, before we digress... Yes! Testor's model paint works VERY well for marking queens!

DS


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I buy the Testor's enamel paint pens at the hardware store.


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## adamf (Jan 28, 2006)

Docking said:


> I have a queen that i would like to mark... I wear gloves and not yet ready to deal with the stings if I don't have to. is there a way I can catch her and mark her while wearing gloves? Do I need to keep her in a cage til she is dry or can I mark her passing by and let her dry on the comb?


It sounds silly, but try smoking your hands with your smoker--works wonders if you're worried about stings on your hands.
Adam Finkelstein
www.vpqueenbees.com


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