»How to Mark Queens – How to Mark a Queen – Marking Queen Bees – Should You Mark Queen Bees«
Many people may use marker pens and it is usually washed off becoming a real kind of frustration and you end up on the hassle of finding the queen over again to mark her afresh.
To be safe, have some car paint and a small brush which you can use to just put a blob on the back of the queen which works a lot better than the marking pen when it has dried up. Alternatively, you can use toner pens which always bring out a fine quality of queen marking. There are variety of colours to choose from and therefore use colours that can be visible in different seasons. Always ensure that the choice of colour you choose to mark the queen favours different weather and time. If you desire to mark the queens with a paint pen, always go for the oil based pen.
Methods
There are many ways of catching the queen for marking as people use different tools and methods for this process. There is a way that the use of a cage ensures a safe restriction and easy marking of the queen and it is a method many that have learnt the trick use.
Marking the Queen
Identify the queen and separate it from the rest. When it is clear on its own, get a cage around her and ensure that the cage has holes that she cannot escape from.
You will now get the tip of the pen to the queen after you have pushed the cage in enough to constrict her movements with care not to kill her. Mark the queen at the back through the cage holes and let the paint dry up for about 5 minutes before releasing her.
Drawbacks
If you take the cage off straightaway, the workers will go straight back in there and clean the paint off the queen which renders your work futile.
Always ensure that during the marking process you don‘t kill the queen. It is much better to have an unmarked queen that is alive than a dead marked one. Therefore, master the ways of caging the queen with minimal harm.
