How To Mark A Queen Bee and How To handle the Queen and Best marking paint pen, colors.
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- Опубликовано: 26 июн 2021
- In this video, I walk you through picking up queen bees and how to contain and mark them safely.
The marker and cage I use in this video are available at most beekeeping equipment suppliers.
Here is a link for your convenience: amzn.to/35ZtBlH
As an amazon associate, I earn from qualifying purchases.
This is the marking pen that I use most often: www.betterbee.com/marking-too...
Additional information about the pen I'm using in this video:
Competitive Advantage MPD-15 medium tip.
Made in the USA
Permanent, indoor/outdoor, alcohol-based SAFE to use. Complies with CA Prop 65, Conforms with ASTM D-4236, Not Corrosive to Metal.
www.TheWayToBee.org
Thank you for another educational and lovely video. You are the only bee RUclipsr that I don't watch at 1.75 or 2X speed 😉
Thank you :)
Hi Fred.
Tip:
If folk are a bit scared to pick up the Queen by the Wings😱
You can use the Single Hand Queen Catcher Cage by :
Placing the Cage in front of the Queen as she walks forward, at about a 20% tilt.
She will kind of Walk up Hill, so to speak... Into the Cage.
* You need to slide the Queen Excluder * over her, quickly but CAREFULLY. 👍
That way she is held in that upper Chamber quite safely.
(If you have Workers go in with her, use your Breathe, over those QE Bars,) and they should be, off, out of the way and back amongst the rest of the Bees, fairly easily. Or wait until they crawl through, to outside the Cage, and brush them off.... carefully. 👍
Before Marking :
Monitor the Queen walking about, so when she is just under those QE Bars (parallel) aka, body is in line with the Slot....Move the side plunger Foam Floor up a little bit...
If necessary, she might have to walk around, again. Get under another Bar, each time you move that Foam closer.
(Slow and carefully is the way to go.... No squished Queen, and a Stressed out Beek.) 🥺
Dot her with your Paint Marker (Colour see below.) Give her 5 seconds, then slowly lower that Plunger a little bit, so she can move a little... But not do Cartwheels, or Bunjee-Jump that Paint all over her Abdomen, on the Walls, Ceiling or Floor etc.
It's Body Art, not War Paint. 🤭
When that Paint is Dry... Place the Queen Catcher on its side, on a Frame, also lying on its side, on the Hive Box, # and slowly open that QE Panel / Slider back.
The Queen will then be able to walk out "safely to meet her attendants"... And you can see "if the Queen is alright" and not being Balled by Bees rejecting her. (killing her ! )
# If you release in between Verticle Frames... She walks down, out of sight. What if their is a problem ? Could you find her ? Catch her? Remove her? 🙄
Hope this helps.
Happy Beekeeping 2021.
🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝
In the UK we have a Saying...
Not sure where it originates from : For the Marker Pen Colours (Colors) for the Year Number. 0 >> 9
eg "2021" is White... 👀
Will "W" White 1 OR 6
You "Y" Yellow 2 OR 7
Raise "R" Red 3 OR 8
Good "G" Green 4 Or 9
Bees "B" Blue 5 OR 0 (Zero)
* Sure the Year Numbers are explained more by Google, or Seri, somewhere 🤭
I remember the Colour Rhyme but not the Numbers.
Maths (UK) Math (US) is not my Forte... 🤭
I've witnessed beekeepers smushing bees trying to press the cage agianst the brood cells to get a queen that way, I much prefer to just pick her up as it's instant and there are no casualties :)
Thanks Fred I am going to be marking some queen’s tomorrow.
I've used the push in marking cage from Betterbee with great success
Those are nice, but you do damage the adjacent cells, and if she's on a brood frame you're pushing those pins into larvae or pupa cells. If she's in the clear those can be nice.
Great video Fred
Perfect timing for an ASMR video!
Great video !
All of the the RUclips subscribers should be hereinafter refereed to as Dunnites
You mean.... "Dunn-er's".
In that it is 'Done', by doing it the Dunn Way.... 👍
@@mmb_MeAndMyBees most of us are The Dunnos” when it comes to bee keeping..
Thanks for the video Mr.Dunn 🇱🇨👍🏿♥️
Your videos are awesome
Thank you very much!
Fred, thanks again for a fine video. Those are some good looking nuc/resource hives to be basically a month old. Kamon said you are planning to attend the Hive Alive conference in January, I’m looking forward to meeting you in person! I hope you do a presentation. Thanks again!
Yea, Kamon invited me to that gathering and I plan to be there :) Not sure what sort of talk or presentation I'd be giving, we'll see.
@@FrederickDunn Where can we obtain the details of that convention?
timely ,i assembled my waxed 5 frame today, should get the 2nd one tomorrow, they are generously wax dipped,come w inner cover ,and sheet metal topped top cover,bittom board, and 5 woodframes w plastic foundation ,lightwax coated ,had it together in 20 glued ,stapled ,bees are going gangbusters right now Inbetween rain showers,thanks for showing the marking pen n cage,that dark queen is gorgeous ,it was neat to see the bees feeding her, have a great week.
Always nice to see your comments Mark! Glad things are going well.
Thanks for another great video. I have re-queened three of my colonies this spring using the same method, more or less, and nothing is more satisfying than making your own queens. According the science it is also the best queens you will ever get and so far I am impressed with my queens that all seem very efficient at building up a solid brood nest. It is still early days to judge the traits of her offspring with regards to disease resistance/management, honey production etc. but they seem extremely calm and pleasant to work with, which is always a good start.
I always carry a queen clip when doing inspection, just because you never know when you might need it, and it doesn't take up much space in a pocket anyway. For marking I use a basic plunger marking cage - transfer from clip to marking cage is fairly easy - but I like the much easier to work with one handed version you have, so I will see if any of the bee equipment suppliers in UK might have it or similar ones available.
thank you for the tips and info
I really love the posts about queens. Even though i don’t have bees I love to learn about them. Thank you for sharing 👍
Thanks for all the information ✅😁🏴☠️👍
Such a joy to watch your videos. Am very glad that I found your channel. Subscribed without hesitation.
Thank you, and welcome!
finally! a video with live bees in it! i htink I need to get some nucs this makes sense! awesome!
second year bee keeper and marked my first queen last weekend - yay! thanks so much for your great videos.
That's great Rick! It's a good skill to have and very handy when you need to find your queens!
A good way to practice marking queens is to practice marking on drones.
Thanks Fred, I'm gonna try picking up some drones. At this time I can't just pick up my queen like you did. I get to nervous
Once you start handling your queens, it will be a great skill and you'll be so glad you learned to do it.
Hi Fred, I have the same marker and found out you need to shake it a really long time if not it comes out very thin and smudges all over the queen. Trust me I know :) I Love the one handed queen catcher, It has helped getting my nerve up to actually pickup the queen without it to clip her wing. Oh and by the way Fred, I see that on my Bettercomb as well with them not laying near the wires, lol. Great Video by the way thank you.
I've noticed they ignor the wires for a while, but later will eventually use them :) Yes, shake shake shake... shake it like a polaroid picture!!!!
I had a few nucs create supersedure cells just before the queen going good and then they tear them down. Crazy bugs!!! Thanks Fred!
Absolutely, supersedure cells on their own don't mean much :) as you've described, they come and go.
Just this week, I found the queen in a nuc I've had for a month. She was laying fine but hadn't been marked yet. I used thve same one-handed cage and successfully marked her. After the paint was dry and my inspection complete, I opened the cage and place it on the top of the frames. To my horror, she crawled out and flew. I followed her with my eyes and picked her up in the grass where she landed. Because I was handling her gingerly (with gloves) she flew from my hands again. I watch were she flew (which was about 10 feet away) and tried to find her to pick her up when I walked to that vicinity. I couldn't find her. Sadly I had created a queen-less hive. After checking the next day, hoping against hope, that she had found her way back (she had not) I re-queened the hive with another marked queen.
What would have caused her to fly when she was placed on the top of the frames? Would there ever have been a chance that she could have found her way back? If so, wouldn't it have been because of the pheromones of the hive since she'd never been outside that hive (she was a part of a nuc that was newly bought to that location).
I always lay the cage back on the frames first and see the workers attending to her, then open it gradually so she is ushered back into the brood frames. In your case, did the bees swarm over the cage and begin to feed and groom her? You can also invert the cage once open and have the opening facing down into the frames so that she is less likely to crawl over the tops. There is always an opportunity for things to go sideways with bees and queens. Some people do report queens finding their way back, but I've not ever experienced a fly off, so can't share any personal experience along that line. I hope the new one was well accepted and that they are now doing well :)
I had that happen about 30 years ago. Remember it well because it spooked me. Again, landed a few yards away. I think it's just confusion on her part. I took one of the frames over (with bees) and she climbed on it.
Fred, you made that look WAY TOO easy. I have the same marking cage and tried to catch the Queen by getting her to walk into the cage.......a miserable fail on my part. She scurried onto my hand instead (I was wearing lime green nitrate gloves) and I spent the next 30 seconds (seemed like a lifetime to a newbie) trying to get her back on a frame before I damaged her. I nearly passed out form holding my breath so long. Once I work up my courage, I'll give it another try like you described. I do have one thing going for me though, this feral swarm is very calm. I've opened the hive and looked into the frames and added syrup a few times along with one full inspection (when I tried to mark the queen) since I caught them 3 weeks ago, and haven't had to use any smoke at all. They are scary calm.
Hi Mike, I've never tried to just get a queen to voluntarily enter a cage, that would take even more time. If you get her by the wings, you can just mark her then and put her in the cage just so the paint dries. YOU can do it! :)
Hi Fred, when are you going to give us a look at your horizontal hive and how its doing ?
Very Soon! It's coming along nicely.
What an amazing video Fred, I love seeing your bees! As a non bee keeper, I have what might be considered a dumb question. Why do bees make burr comb? I've heard you mention it in your Q@A videos but never seen it, so thank you for showing me/us. It seems like a waste of energy and material. Thanks again my Brother.
They are attempting to modify unused space in the hive so they can channel air movement and create tiny passages for tasks they have. If the speace were left open and un-modified, air currents would be far less efficient :)
It's amazing how smart the bees are! To know how to modify their surroundings so that air currents could cool the areas that benefit the hive. Once again, Amazing!! Thanks for your explanation.
Interesting thanks for sharing Fredrick, that’s awesome information. You always do such a great job 👍🐝🍯TrickyTrev 🇦🇺
Thanks Trevor!
I live in Florida and have 15 hives. I was doing an inspection on one of them and found the queen, placed her in a clear plastic queen clip and set her on top of the frames. Went through the rest of the frames i needed to inspect and when i went to release the queen she was dead. Not sure but i think the sunlight fried her. Have you ever experienced this? Needless to say i am going to be much more careful with my queens.
That's one reason I always suggest putting her in the shade while the paint dries. The same applies when just in a holding clip. That's too bad she died and you really probably don't know what happened.
@@FrederickDunn unbelievable how fast they righted themselves. I checked yesterday and there is a brand new queen in that hive. I will always remember that incident and keep my queens cool from now on. Thank you for your videos by the way I appreciate them so much. Your videos encouraged me to start bee keeping. Have a great day Fred and i am looking forward to your next video.
Great video, thank you 🐝🐝
Glad you enjoyed it, and thanks for watching! :)
That was interesting, how long does a Queen lay/live after being newly mated? Thanks Mr Dunn 🐝🐝🐝
I generally get a couple of years out of them.
Fred, I have a question for you. I opened my laying worker hive today. My plan was to make sure this hive was in fact queen less and to make sure I had a laying worker. I found inside tons of cells that are packed with eggs more then 8 per cell. As I continued to inspect I came upon 5 capped queen cells and 2 that was uncapped, which have lots of royal jelly inside along with a larvae. So will they try to raise a queen with drone larvae?
Thanks
Henry
If there are queen cells, there is a laying queen somewhere in that colony. Drone laying workers do not get queen cells constructed around their eggs, the pheromone is off. So, I think you have had a young queen somewhere in there and she's laying multiple eggs, which can happen when she's young. I'd let those queen cells hatch and see how that evens things out. They aren't happy with the current queen for some reason. Please keep us posted about what you do and how it turns out! :)
@@FrederickDunn I got in the hive today. The queen cell is torn down and there are more cells with lots of multiple eggs. I wish I could send a picture but it’s not an option here.
Henry Geiger
Did you get stung at all filming this or by the drone flying around the Queen when you were positioning the trap to mark her? And if not - why?
No stings... just deliberate gentle movements and they don't really respond defensively. Nurse bees are the least likely to sting and they are what surrounds the queen when you find her on a brood frame. :)
Hello from Chicago! I'm curious, if you combine the colonies in the fall to make sure they make it through the winter, wouldn't there be 2 queens? What happens then?
There is almost always a loss of a queen during the late season and then just add them to that colony. Some beekeepers, when left with too many nucleus colonies, just combine them and let the bees sort out the queen situation. I think that's a little risky and would compare the nucleus colonies and remove the one with the lower performing queen... meaning, remove that queen and then combine both colonies in a single 10-frame deep box for winter with a feeder shim on top of that. I've had amazing good fortune wintering small colonies in single deep boxes.
@@FrederickDunn Thank you!
Wow Frederick, stunning video at the beginning, and get help on marking the queen. Thanks you.
I would use your advice one last time before the season end. Here in NYC, we are JUST NOW entering into low 60s for the daytime and high 40's for nighttime yet the bees are still going at it. I'm feeing them 2/1 feed because I want to keep them away from their honey stores. My question is how much is too much feed? I'm feeding them 1/2 gallon of 2/1 sugar syrup every four days. I assuming this is perfect, but would have to have to backlog this and have no place for the queen to lay. When it stays below 50 for 10 days or so, I plan on adding a candy board shim and wrapping them up. But for now, I want to make sure I am not feeding them too much. Does 1/2 gallon of 2to1 every four days sound like the right thing? Grateful.
I don't think you're feeding too much, they will readily consume most of what they bring in rather than storing it this time of year. This is specifically because you are offering it outside the hive at a feeding station, so foragers are bringing it home. I think you're ok.
@@FrederickDunn Thank you Frederick!!!! I'm not feeding it from the outside. I'm feeding them from a rapid round inner feeder. I would think they would be storing this since it's from inside the hive and it's 2/1 rather 1/1.
@@bradgoliphant Once you start feeding this time of year, I wouldn't stop, but you can swap to winter solid feed. When your current syrup runs out, I'd replace it with dry feed. If they already have plenty of honey stored up, I still think you're good.
@@FrederickDunn perfect.
Thanks Frederick. You made MEAD over a year ago. How did that turn out? If you had a follow-up on that video, I missed it. An update? Blessings.
People really like it now, and it hit its stride in flavor around June. I would definitley leave it in the large bucket longer and do more cycles of racking to clarify the end product a little more. I'd also back sweeten it a little after fermentation is complete and would bottle it after the sixth month.
@@FrederickDunn I just opened a bottle of Cyser that I made 9/11/19. It is crystal clear and golden as honey. I could have used a bit of back sweetener, but it is very enjoyable. I still have a gallon of regular Mead, made on the same day, that I have not touched. It looks as good. I was very particular in racking. Thanks for the info. Oh, I want to make my next batch of Cyser with the introduction of a spice mix for the Christmas Season. Blessings.
Inside the trapped queen's head in the trap: LEMME OUT LEMME OUT LEMME OUT I AM IN CHARGE AHHHHH ;)
Fred, as I was marking a queen, she moved and got marking paint on her wings and abdomen, how or will this affect her performance at all ?
The wings are not terribly important, but you should do your best always to prevent paint from getting on the abdomen. Hopefully the nurse bees will clean that off.
Please provide a link to the queen cage you used.
It's in the description. :)
I use the SZPEITEL markers, and after five to seven days my queens are cleaned up, like they never been marked.
I am still looking for some good and more permanent markers.
Which kind of marker is that, and how long it stays on them?
www.betterbee.com/marking-tools-and-queen-cages/qmp1-queen-marking-pen.asp longest lasting pen ink I've found.
Link in the description. The paint is intended to stay on for years, that's why the color system. I assume they work decently if Fred is passing them on without qualification.
@@FrederickDunn, I just ordered one from the Better bee. Thanks a lot.
@@namentatic4978 I've had the paint remain on for a very long time, but it eventually looks like a circle with the center worn off. On other colonies, the dot remains unaltered for a year or more, grooming intensity and the queen rubbing her thorax on cell walls also play in rubbing the paint off. You can always re-apply if you need to.
@@FrederickDunn, I have seen inner plates edges rounded by bees, and looked like somebody used a file and rounded them. With that strong abilities, they are riding on queens, cleaning them up, and taking the paints off. They do not like to see anything unusual on their mother.
My problem was, when I am taking some capped brood from a stronger colony to donate to weaker one, couple of times I transferred a queen too. I did not see her. I need to mark them, and if it stay couple of months, I'll be happy.
👍
The Giant Hornets are a pain
Mr. Dunn, you are an exemplary educator Sir. I would like to collaborate with you on some educational videos if you are the slightest bit interested.
I am very flattered! However, I'm sorry to say that I really wouldn't have the time to work with you on videos at this point.
@@FrederickDunn Noted.
This my second spring with bees nothing is going well. Not sure i might keep doing this.
I have felt the same way many times. lol. I am going into my 4th year. Beekeeping, especially for the beginner can be an emotional rollercoaster. Sometimes folks get into it thinking it will be easy.
You and I know it is not by any stretch of the word easy. It's a lot of hard work, studying and dedication. Not to mention expensive.
Is it worth it? For me the answer is yes. Take your time. Find a mentor,
very important. Join a bee club. Don't beat yourself up if you decide it isn't for you.
Hope you will continue. Good luck .
My second winter of beekeeping, we had a storm and I came home to every single colony on the ground sideways, covered with snow during 26 degree temps. I put them all back together and strapped them down. I lost all eight colonies and had to start from scratch in spring. I think, for me, a large part of the appeal is that there are always going to be challenges, successes, and failures. You can suffer stress every time there isn't enough rain, or too much rain, or robbing, or defensiveness, or a cold snap in spring. That is all balanced by the joy of listening to the bees and watching them forage and return. Learning to manage them better, and making strides in the right direction can be a source of happiness. Most new beekeepers quit in their first two years, it can be time-consuming and disappointing. I'm glad I stayed with it :)
We have all felt this way at one time or another. It can be frustrating.
If you enjoy keeping bees, then keep on trying. Get involved with a local beekeepers club and find a mentor.
@@lindadecker2189 its hard to find mentor most people are still afraid I think USA. Is raising bunch of wimps
Can you show the whole process.
I did show the entire process, there are two queens in this video, the second marking demonstration is from start to finish. Thanks :)
Where order your queen from and what kind
Hi Perry, if I'm not producing my own queens, I get them from BeeWeaver in Texas.
I had a Virgin Queen slip through mine and she flew off. The Lord was looking out for me and she came back to the Nuc.
I had a laying queen that had several frames of brood. I marked her and set aside to dry. 2 minutes later the cage was empty and she was nowhere to be found. 5 minutes later I saw a ball of bees on the ground in front of a different hive and sure enough they had balled her and killed her. I don't use that kind of Q catcher anymore. Once is enough.
I don't try to mark them until there is plenty of evidence that they are laying and producing. You're fortunate she flew back :)
@@russellkoopman3004 Thanks for sharing your story. Definitely have to keep an eye on them. What style cage do you now use for that purpose?
@@FrederickDunn The round one with cross mesh screening. She did fly back but to the wrong hive and they killed her.
I took my queen out and marked her, then I just slid the crown board back an inch, the smoker was out, the bees came out to defend the opening and the Queen got stung to death. They attacked her viciously.
Wow, that's a strange situation indeed, thanks for sharing.
"Queens that are in lay can't fly." I wonder if this fact somehow became warped into the myth that Bumblebees shouldn't be able to fly according to the laws of physics?
Not at all related. That bumble theory is based on what they would think when seeing fossil remains rather than having the actual species to observe. Direct observation is a great educator :)
That the same way the believer do it because they don't AI the Queens
ಯಾರಿಗೆ ಅರ್ಥವಾಗುತ್ತದೆ. ಕನ್ನಡದಲ್ಲಿ ಪ್ರಸಾರ ಮಾಡಿ ಗೊತ್ತಾ ಯಿತಾ
some how i'm first