Marking Queens

Queen marking means applying a small dot of colour to the upper surface of the queen's thorax or gluing on a numbered disc; the colour follows an international code that shows the year the queen was born. A marked queen can be found within seconds in a crowded hive, her age is known without checking records, and a silent supersedure by the bees is noticed at once. This page covers the colour code, marking equipment, step-by-step marking, points to watch and the question of wing clipping.

Why mark a queen bee?

• Finding her quickly: Searching for an unmarked queen in a crowded hive can take minutes; a coloured dot shows the queen at first glance. The hive stays open for less time.
• Tracking age: The colour code tells you which year the queen was reared without looking at written records, which makes requeening easier to plan.
• Noticing a queen change: Seeing an unmarked queen where there was a marked one at the previous inspection means the colony has quietly superseded its queen or has swarmed.
• Records and sales: Numbered discs match each queen produced with the breeder and mating information in the records.

The third point is often overlooked but is the most valuable: seeing an unmarked queen is information about the colony in its own right.

What are the queen marking colours?

In the internationally used five-colour cycle, each year is assigned a colour, determined by the last digit of the year. The cycle repeats every five years; since a queen rarely lives longer than five years, there is no confusion.

To remember it easily, you can make up a sentence from the initial letters of the colours; what matters is knowing that the order is white, yellow, red, green, blue.

What equipment is needed for marking?

• Marking pen: Quick-drying, water-based or low-odour paint pens made for beekeeping. Paints with a strong solvent smell can upset the queen's acceptance because of their odour and can damage tissues.
• Numbered discs and glue: Small coloured, numbered discs and a glue suitable for beekeeping; used in operations that track large numbers of queens.
• Marking tube (plunger cage): A tube with mesh at one end and a plunger with a soft sponge inside; the queen is pressed gently against the mesh by the sponge and the paint is applied through a gap in the mesh.
• Queen catcher clip: A spring-loaded plastic clip with comb-like teeth; it lets you pick the queen off the comb without crushing her.
• Press-in marking cage: A wire cage placed over the queen and pressed gently into the comb; the queen is marked where she is.

How do you mark a queen bee? Step by step

1. Choose the right time: The queen should be mated and laying; virgin queens are not marked. Choose a warm, calm day.
2. Catch the queen: Take the queen off the comb with a catcher clip or a marking tube. If you pick her up by hand, lift her gently by the wings or thorax; never hold her by the abdomen.
3. Hold her still: In the tube, push the sponge plunger slowly to press the queen gently against the mesh; the upper surface of the thorax should come up against a gap in the mesh. Pressing too hard will crush the queen.
4. Apply the paint: First press the tip of the pen on a piece of paper to get the paint flowing, then put a small dot in the middle of the thorax. The paint must not touch the head, the wing bases or the abdomen.
5. Let it dry: Wait a minute or two for the paint to dry. If the queen is released with wet paint, the workers will try to clean her and the paint will be smeared around.
6. Release her: Put the queen back on the comb she was taken from, among the bees, and close the hive calmly.

How do you glue on a numbered disc?

Numbered discs give producers who work with many colonies or sell queens more than a colour: each queen gets her own number. The disc is placed with tweezers onto a very small amount of glue applied to the thorax and pressed gently.

• Advantage: More durable than paint; the number allows a one-to-one match with breeding and mating records.
• Caution: If the glue spreads to the wing bases the queen can be crippled; do not use too much glue. The disc may fall off over time; a colour dot can serve as a backup.

What should you watch out for when marking?

• Keep paint off the wings and abdomen: Paint on the wings can affect flight, and paint on the abdomen can affect breathing and laying.
• Use little paint: A small dot is enough; a large blob does not dry and gets smeared.
• Do not mark a newly introduced queen straight away: First wait for acceptance to be complete and laying to settle into a routine.
• Work cool and calm: In heat and haste the queen becomes stressed.
• Brief stupor: A marked queen may sometimes stay motionless for a few minutes; she usually recovers on her own. Release her gently among the bees.
• Practise on drones first: Beginners can gain handling and painting skills on a few drones.

Can wing clipping replace marking?

Some beekeepers cut off part of one of the queen's forewings to delay swarming or to identify the queen. A clipped queen cannot fly off with a swarm; the swarm returns to the hive without its queen, which gains the beekeeper time.

• It does not prevent swarming: The colony continues its swarm preparations and can swarm with the first new queen to emerge; clipping only delays it.
• Loss of the queen: When the swarm issues, a clipped queen can fall in front of the hive and be lost.
• It does not replace marking: A clipped wing does not show age and is not easy to see from a distance; if the wing is clipped, the queen should be marked as well.

Wing clipping is a controversial practice; if it is done, it is done only on a mated, laying queen, with fine-pointed scissors, without touching the legs.