Hey folks disclaimer here. I certainly don’t recommend anyone try to do this on purpose. The truth is that the bees may still replace her. I am curious to see how she does. Would have much rather it not happened. But since it did I thought I would share. If you have any pointers on what I did wrong I would like to know how to prevent it in the future! Thanks for watching!
I have a queen marking kit I got on Amazon. It wouldn't stop the marker from bleeding but maybe if you had both hands available because the queen was in the contraption, it could have maybe helped. I really have no other advice. I come to you for advice! 😂
I have seen those type of things. They look like a good idea. I am trying to learn new skills. And I think if I get this or a similar technique mastered I will be pretty fast and efficient. But it definitely wouldn’t hurt to have one of those marking cages.
Yeah I was trying to do that. I think when I went to blot or test it I must have pushed down a bit on the tip releasing too much paint. I marked a bunch of queens before and after this one with no problems.
Perhaps you could pull wick out of marker, it’s normally only 3/4” long then shake out excess paint and put wick back in! Mind you I’ve only done this with industrial paint markers, not 100%sure they’re the same.😊
Great video, Bruce! I've got a queen with a bad tattoo as well, but nowhere near that covered. She overwintered and is looking good this spring. Keep us updated on how Red progresses!
This is one of the best queen marking videos ever produced.... I laughed till my belly hurt. Definitely a superior method you have here. I could see the benefits immediately. Very easy to see and doesn't take that much more paint. Keep up the great work.
@@brucesbees I think we just skirted to the east. From Macon to Destin thru Cuthbert. But now I see how close we were to Slocum. Did see a few decent sized apiaries along the way.
Yeah no one is perfect though some are more skilled than others. And everyone makes mistakes. I don’t share all my mistakes or failures but I do share some if I think others will find it interesting or benefit from it
Hi Bruce, that has happened to me several times, I find that if you pump the nib of the pen to get paint on it sometimes it comes out in a spurt and overloads the nib. You can avoid over painting the queen by checking the nib on a hard surface before you mark her. My mating hives have all got patches of paint on the tops of the frames where I do that every time before I mark the queen. I am pleased she survived, I have had some die from globs of paint. But as you say, you can always make another one! Cheer Chris
I've done it those pens can leak normally test it on the frames first.. it's just as easy to use those plastic disc with numbers to mark them. They stay marked too . Queen customers don't know what to think of it
I'm fairly new at beekeeping but ive noticed how those markers try to bleed, so I give mine a gentle shake after I dab the tip on something to get think started. And if I shake off too much I just do the whole process over and over til she's marked. I usually only have to do it once though. Again I'm fairly new and maybe I've never had one bleed out as bad as yours but that does seem to help. Keep up the good videos and kudos to you for not being to prideful to share this. I've been watching you for over a year now and really enjoy your videos.
Hi Bruce, I did that a couple years ago and I covered her head and antenna. I was mortified. She did great that season and they cleaned some off. Good luck with her! Atleast she will be easy to find.
I've noticed with paint pens the pumping is only necessary when new to get the paint to wick, if it ever drys on tip throw it away, pumping will not help, it will just run around dried tip.
I had a old yeller queen lol I did the same thing, she survived! But it does suck when it happens, but don’t be hard on yourself it’s how we learn! You’ll bee more careful next time! Love your videos thanks for sharing the good and the bad. Glad I’m not the only one haha!
Omgee! That happened to me with a yellow queen! I know how that feels. I had her in a queen holder and i dabbed off as much as I could. Those markers are leaky like that.
Yeah it happens I guess. I am fairly new to the queen marking queen though I have started doing more of it the past couple of years. This is a new technique for me though.
Obviously I don’t think that was your error Bruce…seems like that was a pen error! I would send this video to the manufacturer and let them know what happens when their pens malfunction!! Prayers she makes it!! 💞💕
I don’t know. 🤷🏻♂️. I marked several after her with no more issues. I was just careful to touch it to another surface gently to see if too much paint came out. I wonder if she I tested it before I marked maybe I pushed down on the tip a bit and let too much paint flow into it. Gonna ask Greg what the solution is. Hopefully the queen will be okay but either way it was an interesting experience. Hope folks enjoy it.
I did the same thing last year but got her entire head. Ran to the house and cleaned her with a wet q tip. She is doing well and heading up one of my best hives.
last year i was just starting to mark my queens, and i picked one up, marked her and put her down on top, except she wasnt moving at all. i thought i had put too much pressure on her as i was holding between my fingers. sad and disapointed, i left her in the box for the rest of the hive to know she was dead. came back the next day, put a caged queen in and then 3 days later to see if she was released. they were glued to that cage trying to kill her. went thru the frames and there she was, a yellow marked queen, the one i thought i killed! she is now called "Squishy"!
I like it. And yes for some reason they will act like they are in shock sometimes but they usually bounce back. I am trying to hold them a different way now so that it is less stressful on them but I am still learning. Neither myself or the bee could have anticipated her getting doused like this though haha. Hope she sticks around for awhile though.
If you watch my most recent video you can see how the hive is doing. Didn’t actually spot her this time. But I did do a follow up not long ago. Here it is ruclips.net/video/ASQIJa_0ekg/видео.html
I am not sure. I think they usually get mated within the first 10 days to 2 weeks. But I am uncertain about the exact time frame. I try to leave them alone for at least 2 to 3 weeks and then check.
I tried to do that and was much more careful after that happened. No other issues. If you watch the video you can see that I touched the wood before I caught her but laid it down on its side and didn’t test again before touching her. Somehow too much paint got released. Just a lesson to do exactly as you suggest.
Bruce, I'm glad to see someone else has done the same as me😅. Two days ago, I pinched a queen in the queen clip- felt terrible, but I think she survived.
It happened to all of us. She kinda got lucky not getting it on her head, antennas or breathing channels. So they could leave her ... but l'm not so sure. Bees are very fussy about wrong smelling queens. Time will tell. That's why I stopped using those pens, and gone back to the old way.. dipping something like a toothpick into water based wood lacquer paint... or even those small numbers, are easy to apply.. if you want to keep track of the queen line you have... l wish her good luck
I did it to once it was a cool day and the clouds broke sun heated the pen up and paint flowed fast. Now before I mark I dab my other hand behind my thumb just to double check.
Smart plan. I actually became very diligent about touching another surface before marking them. I touched something before I makes her but I wonder if I pushed down some on the tip and released too much paint. I like your idea. Will certainly be more careful moving forward.
@@brucesbees also I always use a one handed queen catcher to mark queens now. I had one by her feet like Bob Binnie talks about and when I went to mark her she started flapping her wings and pushed paint too close to her eyes for my comfort...
Well, it's non-toxic so as long as it does not interfere with respiration she should be fine. The big concern I had while watching was it they would reject her due to the paint.
I like the fine tip Posca markers. They don't seem to have this problem. I would expect them to kill her. I've lost a lot of queens by marking them too early after getting mated. I've found that I have better success waiting a couple weeks until she has settled in and is not so jittery.
I dont think it was a pen malfunction. You don't want to push the pen to get the paint flowing out when trying to actually mark the queen. (This will cause the paint to flow out like what happened to you. ) instead tap the pen on the side of the hive or someplace other than on the queen (maybe a small amount on your wrist. Once you get a little drop of paint out, then just touch the pens tip just enough to get a little paint on the tip then touch the tip to the queens thorax to put a small dot on her without pushing the pen down.
Yeah I think that is what happened. I did several queens before this and several after with no issues. Did some more yesterday. Lesson learned. Thanks for the tip!
You might try some oil based Zeyar fine markers.🐝👍🏻 (Some use a Posca cheapo venom markers. Lasting short on queens and moreover can kill fastly as it's happened several times to me so far. Therefore l use rest of Poscas solely for marking notes on hives)
Hey thanks for the suggestion. Really only had this issue once and I have marked a bunch of queens with this same marker since. Not sure what I did wrong but have been more careful.
@@brucesbees paint and thinner content must be shaken with bullet system inside the marker enough and mixed good. Otherwise transparent thinner can get behind queens "collar" and mostly this means the end. (From my perspective, after failures, l am sure that content of any sort of queen marker ought to be mixed well before use). *Big Red* can be real symbol of a new era. Keep us pls update 🐝🙂👍🏻
Does it matter what side you place your queen excluder, I think that I may have my upside down ( I'm a new beekeeper) my girls are getting up into the super just wondering if it makes any difference ?
@@apveening true but clipping songs can help prevent swarming or at least I think that is the theory. Big Red seems to be doing well even though I doused her with paint.
Not to sound negative, but I don't believe this queen is going to make it. I hope she does. I have heard that Posca Paint Pens are the best for marking queens.
We will see. I think this pen is great. Used it on a bunch of queens and this was the only one that had an issue. I was much more careful after this happened.
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Hey folks disclaimer here. I certainly don’t recommend anyone try to do this on purpose. The truth is that the bees may still replace her. I am curious to see how she does. Would have much rather it not happened. But since it did I thought I would share. If you have any pointers on what I did wrong I would like to know how to prevent it in the future! Thanks for watching!
I have a queen marking kit I got on Amazon. It wouldn't stop the marker from bleeding but maybe if you had both hands available because the queen was in the contraption, it could have maybe helped. I really have no other advice. I come to you for advice! 😂
After charging the paint marker, maybe blot before marking? It could just be a defective marker.
I have seen those type of things. They look like a good idea. I am trying to learn new skills. And I think if I get this or a similar technique mastered I will be pretty fast and efficient. But it definitely wouldn’t hurt to have one of those marking cages.
Yeah I was trying to do that. I think when I went to blot or test it I must have pushed down a bit on the tip releasing too much paint. I marked a bunch of queens before and after this one with no problems.
Perhaps you could pull wick out of marker, it’s normally only 3/4” long then shake out excess paint and put wick back in!
Mind you I’ve only done this with industrial paint markers, not 100%sure they’re the same.😊
She made an awesome recovery, Keep us posted to see how she works out, Great video Bruce.
Will do. Will be an interesting storyline. Maybe she will live a long and productive life. Or maybe they will replace her. Time will tell!
Great video, Bruce! I've got a queen with a bad tattoo as well, but nowhere near that covered. She overwintered and is looking good this spring. Keep us updated on how Red progresses!
I am glad to hear stories where the queens end up doing well. Hopefully the story will continue for a good long while.
This is one of the best queen marking videos ever produced.... I laughed till my belly hurt. Definitely a superior method you have here. I could see the benefits immediately. Very easy to see and doesn't take that much more paint. Keep up the great work.
Haha. My comment right before was times perfectly for a “goober” moment.
Drive thru SE Alabama today and wish you the best, Bruce!
Awesome. Thanks for checking in. Did you come through Dothan?
@@brucesbees I think we just skirted to the east. From Macon to Destin thru Cuthbert. But now I see how close we were to Slocum. Did see a few decent sized apiaries along the way.
@@brucesbees picking up breakfast at Ray’s in a few minutes
Oh wow. Iconic place.
Watch, Big Red’s colony will thrive 😊 Thanks for sharing Bruce!
I hope so. Thanks for checking in!
As always another great and honest video. Stuff happens to the best of us. Thanks for showing us we are it alone.
Yeah no one is perfect though some are more skilled than others. And everyone makes mistakes. I don’t share all my mistakes or failures but I do share some if I think others will find it interesting or benefit from it
Great reminder to make sure the pen is working right. I did about the same last year so now I try to blob it a few extra times.
Yeah I thought I was being careful. Was even more careful after that happened.
Ops, no hiding her look at her "Big Red" is a good name that's as good as Lee's "Raising Stripe" Queen.
Haha. Thanks for checking in.
Hi Bruce, that has happened to me several times, I find that if you pump the nib of the pen to get paint on it sometimes it comes out in a spurt and overloads the nib. You can avoid over painting the queen by checking the nib on a hard surface before you mark her. My mating hives have all got patches of paint on the tops of the frames where I do that every time before I mark the queen. I am pleased she survived, I have had some die from globs of paint. But as you say, you can always make another one! Cheer Chris
I think that is what happened. I was testing it and may have pressed down a little too hard. Only happened once. Maybe she will survive.
The story of Big-Red will be one to tell grand-kids. . Sometimes, those pens go crazy. I saw one do that to Greg last year.
Yep something else. Not sure exactly what happened. Hope she sticks around for awhile.
I've done it those pens can leak normally test it on the frames first.. it's just as easy to use those plastic disc with numbers to mark them. They stay marked too . Queen customers don't know what to think of it
Yeah I was more careful after this happened.
You got me with the thumbnail Bruce!
No words needed lol! Have been trying to work on my thumbnails and titles. Thanks for checking in Yappy!
Interesting. Thanks for showing us this.
You’re welcome. Thank you for the support.
Looks like Big Red is going to make it!!! I think all of us has done that. Mine was Snow White. Thanks for sharing Bruce.
I hope she does. Sounds like a lot of people have had similar experiences.
I'm fairly new at beekeeping but ive noticed how those markers try to bleed, so I give mine a gentle shake after I dab the tip on something to get think started. And if I shake off too much I just do the whole process over and over til she's marked. I usually only have to do it once though. Again I'm fairly new and maybe I've never had one bleed out as bad as yours but that does seem to help. Keep up the good videos and kudos to you for not being to prideful to share this. I've been watching you for over a year now and really enjoy your videos.
This is a great suggestion. Thanks so much for the support.
🎼Lady in Red….🎵🎶
I like it!
She’s definitely RED!
To bad he doesn't live in Nebraska. LOL
Yeah she is!!!
Hi Bruce, I did that a couple years ago and I covered her head and antenna. I was mortified. She did great that season and they cleaned some off. Good luck with her! Atleast she will be easy to find.
Yeah hopefully she will be able to live a long and productive life.
Love her name!
Yeah I thought it was fitting.
I've noticed with paint pens the pumping is only necessary when new to get the paint to wick, if it ever drys on tip throw it away, pumping will not help, it will just run around dried tip.
Good information. Thanks for sharing.
I had a old yeller queen lol I did the same thing, she survived! But it does suck when it happens, but don’t be hard on yourself it’s how we learn! You’ll bee more careful next time! Love your videos thanks for sharing the good and the bad. Glad I’m not the only one haha!
No doubt. We all make mistakes. But you just have to keep on moving ahead. Hopefully she will continue to do well.
@@brucesbees yes sir! Keep on keeping on! She’ll be good! Fingers crossed!
Omgee! That happened to me with a yellow queen! I know how that feels. I had her in a queen holder and i dabbed off as much as I could. Those markers are leaky like that.
Yeah it happens I guess. I am fairly new to the queen marking queen though I have started doing more of it the past couple of years. This is a new technique for me though.
Obviously I don’t think that was your error Bruce…seems like that was a pen error! I would send this video to the manufacturer and let them know what happens when their pens malfunction!! Prayers she makes it!! 💞💕
I don’t know. 🤷🏻♂️. I marked several after her with no more issues. I was just careful to touch it to another surface gently to see if too much paint came out. I wonder if she I tested it before I marked maybe I pushed down on the tip a bit and let too much paint flow into it. Gonna ask Greg what the solution is. Hopefully the queen will be okay but either way it was an interesting experience. Hope folks enjoy it.
Hey Bruce. Sorry that happened. It was interesting to see how the worker bees responded.
Yes it really was something to behold. Maybe she will be ok.
Crazy how fast that happened
For sure. Complete surprise.
I did the same thing last year but got her entire head. Ran to the house and cleaned her with a wet q tip. She is doing well and heading up one of my best hives.
Whew! Glad to know she is ok and doing well!
last year i was just starting to mark my queens, and i picked one up, marked her and put her down on top, except she wasnt moving at all. i thought i had put too much pressure on her as i was holding between my fingers. sad and disapointed, i left her in the box for the rest of the hive to know she was dead. came back the next day, put a caged queen in and then 3 days later to see if she was released. they were glued to that cage trying to kill her. went thru the frames and there she was, a yellow marked queen, the one i thought i killed! she is now called "Squishy"!
I like it. And yes for some reason they will act like they are in shock sometimes but they usually bounce back. I am trying to hold them a different way now so that it is less stressful on them but I am still learning. Neither myself or the bee could have anticipated her getting doused like this though haha. Hope she sticks around for awhile though.
An update about how she is doing now (about a month later) would be appreciated.
If you watch my most recent video you can see how the hive is doing. Didn’t actually spot her this time. But I did do a follow up not long ago. Here it is ruclips.net/video/ASQIJa_0ekg/видео.html
She will be easy to see. That is for sure. It happens to us all from time to time.
Yep she was practically glowing. Hope she survives awhile so we can follow the storyline and see how she does.
Just had my very first queen emerge today from a split I did last Monday (march 27 ) ….now my question is how long before the mating flight ?
I am not sure. I think they usually get mated within the first 10 days to 2 weeks. But I am uncertain about the exact time frame. I try to leave them alone for at least 2 to 3 weeks and then check.
Always touch the tip of that pen to the piece of wood or paper whatever before you touch the queen.
I tried to do that and was much more careful after that happened. No other issues. If you watch the video you can see that I touched the wood before I caught her but laid it down on its side and didn’t test again before touching her. Somehow too much paint got released. Just a lesson to do exactly as you suggest.
Bruce, I'm glad to see someone else has done the same as me😅. Two days ago, I pinched a queen in the queen clip- felt terrible, but I think she survived.
They are pretty resilient. But sometimes it goes the other direction. Thanks for checking in.
Is that the newer style pens Bob uses?
I’m not sure. This is the kind Greg Burns uses. I marked several queens before and after this happened with no other issues.
Go Big Red!
Hopefully she will continue to do well.
It's surprising the workers didn't immediately get rid of her hehe. Keep up posted I wanna know if she makes it :)
I guess they may still supersede her but she is a nice young queen that is filling it up. Time will tell.
I think we’ve all done that😁😁. She’s easy to find now at least….she’ll be fine. My two that I’ve done made it just fine.
I think so too but we will see. It probably took them at least 30 to 45 minutes to get her “rehabbed.”
It happened to all of us. She kinda got lucky not getting it on her head, antennas or breathing channels. So they could leave her ... but l'm not so sure. Bees are very fussy about wrong smelling queens. Time will tell.
That's why I stopped using those pens, and gone back to the old way.. dipping something like a toothpick into water based wood lacquer paint... or even those small numbers, are easy to apply.. if you want to keep track of the queen line you have... l wish her good luck
Good stuff. And food for thought. Thanks for checking in.
I’ve had similar pen malfunctions, but fortunately it was on my finger. I now check the pen first. Use the hive box or something else.
Yeah I will definitely be careful moving forward.
If my queens looked like maybe I could find them.
Yes she definitely pops now for sure. Not hard to find.
I did it to once it was a cool day and the clouds broke sun heated the pen up and paint flowed fast. Now before I mark I dab my other hand behind my thumb just to double check.
Smart plan. I actually became very diligent about touching another surface before marking them. I touched something before I makes her but I wonder if I pushed down some on the tip and released too much paint. I like your idea. Will certainly be more careful
moving forward.
@@brucesbees also I always use a one handed queen catcher to mark queens now. I had one by her feet like Bob Binnie talks about and when I went to mark her she started flapping her wings and pushed paint too close to her eyes for my comfort...
Yeah that might be something to look into.
Well, it's non-toxic so as long as it does not interfere with respiration she should be fine. The big concern I had while watching was it they would reject her due to the paint.
Yeah I don’t know. Time will tell.
I like the fine tip Posca markers. They don't seem to have this problem.
I would expect them to kill her. I've lost a lot of queens by marking them too early after getting mated. I've found that I have better success waiting a couple weeks until she has settled in and is not so jittery.
Thanks for the tip. And thanks for checking in!
I dont think it was a pen malfunction. You don't want to push the pen to get the paint flowing out when trying to actually mark the queen. (This will cause the paint to flow out like what happened to you. ) instead tap the pen on the side of the hive or someplace other than on the queen (maybe a small amount on your wrist. Once you get a little drop of paint out, then just touch the pens tip just enough to get a little paint on the tip then touch the tip to the queens thorax to put a small dot on her without pushing the pen down.
Yeah I think that is what happened. I did several queens before this and several after with no issues. Did some more yesterday. Lesson learned. Thanks for the tip!
And I thot I had screwed a few up. Geez! Easier than clipping wings! Callin' that the big print edition😂😂🤣😅😆😅🤣
No doubt haha
I always tap my pin on the box and get that excess off
Yeah that sounds like a good idea. Thanks for the tip.
At least she will be easy to find😜😜😜
Absolutely. She was practically glowing!
We accidentally got paint on one of our queen's eyes while marking her :( :( A month later and she is still laying just fine!
Oh yeah. They seem to be pretty tough most of the time!
You won’t have any trouble identifying her any more! Haha. Poor girl
True. She is practically glowing in there. Hate I did it but if she doesn’t get superseded it will be a fun storyline.
Lol I did that using blue paint. She wiggled just as I dabbed. Poor queen looked like a smerf. She survived fine though.
Yeah I have heard some good stories. Hopefully this one will turn out ok.
You might try some oil based Zeyar fine markers.🐝👍🏻
(Some use a Posca cheapo venom markers. Lasting short on queens and moreover can kill fastly as it's happened several times to me so far. Therefore l use rest of Poscas solely for marking notes on hives)
Hey thanks for the suggestion. Really only had this issue once and I have marked a bunch of queens with this same marker since. Not sure what I did wrong but have been more careful.
@@brucesbees paint and thinner content must be shaken with bullet system inside the marker enough and mixed good. Otherwise transparent thinner can get behind queens "collar" and mostly this means the end.
(From my perspective, after failures, l am sure that content of any sort of queen marker ought to be mixed well before use).
*Big Red* can be real symbol of a new era. Keep us pls update 🐝🙂👍🏻
@@robertkozanek5670 thanks for the info.
Does it matter what side you place your queen excluder, I think that I may have my upside down ( I'm a new beekeeper) my girls are getting up into the super just wondering if it makes any difference ?
I don’t think so.
Hope it works out. I had that happen once and she lasted for a couple of weeks and then they replaced her.
Hopefully she will pull through.
At least you don't have to worry about her swarming on you lol I've done the same thing
Haha. Maybe it will keep her in the hive. As long as they don’t supersede her I think she will be fine!
Hay let you know your not the only one that done that . I had a Smurf Queen last year . She still called smurf .😅😢 and she in my hive old #7 call J.D.
Yeah sounds like it has happened to a lot of people. I hope this girl survives like yours and has a productive life!
Spot the queen from space!
These days they probably could haha!
You could clip her wings
I’ve never done that before but I know it is an option. Hopefully she will do ok.
Clipping wings will lead to problems when it is time to swarm.
@@apveening true but clipping songs can help prevent swarming or at least I think that is the theory. Big Red seems to be doing well even though I doused her with paint.
Looks like they were trying to sting her.
I thought that too but just a little. They didn’t though as you could see.
Lady in red😂😂😂😂😂
Yes. She certainly is visible!
Been there done it myself.
Yeah seems like a lot of people has had that happen. How did yours do after she got painted?
@@brucesbees queen did fine.
Not to sound negative, but I don't believe this queen is going to make it. I hope she does. I have heard that Posca Paint Pens are the best for marking queens.
We will see. I think this pen is great. Used it on a bunch of queens and this was the only one that had an issue. I was much more careful after this happened.
No doubt you will be able to see her
For sure haha.
Never brag!!!! Lol!!
No doubt. 😳
Up date
I plan to but this just happened two days ago.
Lol
@#$% happens. Thanks for sharing the pen malfunction. Not on you.
Yeah. Sometimes bad things do happen to sure. Thanks.