Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => DOWN UNDER BEEKEEPING => Topic started by: Harpo on November 14, 2012, 03:25:13 am
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Hi Guys - have a quick questions for you all....
I have 7 hives at present which are made up of 4 caught swarms and 3 bought....
For the life of me I haven't been able to see a queen in any of them :-x
I take my time when the weather is good and they all seem too good at hide and seek!
When you buy a new queen is she marked?
Have any of you marked your own queens?
And if so how did you go about it?
Have a mate who may be better at spotting them so thinking of marking them...
Cheers!
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Finding the queen in a large full sized hive can be difficult. I only spot her about 50% of the time in my deep or medium hives. That is one thing I like about my jumbo hives that only have 11 brood frames. I almost always see her because there are only 11 frames she’s going to be on. The other ones are honey, so really only 9 frames.
Normally it’s not critical to find the queen unless you are stealing brood frames from one hive to boost another hive. Then it’s very critical. Assuming I’m not doing that, then all I check for anymore in my full sized hives is eggs. If I see eggs, she’s been there within 3 days and if very likely in the hive someplace.
I almost always find the queen in my nucs, since there are less bees and less frames. Working with nucs is a great way to train your eyes to spot queens.
In general, don't worry about the queen if you can spot eggs :)
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Have any of you marked your own queens?
And if so how did you go about it?
http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/queen-marking/ (http://robo.bushkillfarms.com/queen-marking/)
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BTW Rob, that really is a great little video :)
Scott
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BTW Rob, that really is a great little video :)
Scott
Thanks Scott, my minor video contribution pales in comparision to the pros like you and JP. :-D