Beemaster's International Beekeeping Forum
BEEKEEPING LEARNING CENTER => GENERAL BEEKEEPING - MAIN POSTING FORUM. => Topic started by: Ben Framed on September 14, 2019, 01:23:55 am
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I was reading some of the recent and older post and started wondering ''I wonder what beekeepers think of marking queens'' Just for fun; do you mark your queens? Also do you have more or less than 20 hives? This may be interesting to most everyone, seeing the results? Thanks, Phillip
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I dont mark for fun. I mark to see what supercedure, rate is.
I run as many as 200.
I mark all qs in nucs and for queen orders. People appreciate that a lot.
I also mark potential breeders in separate colors for genetic line and f1 f2 etc for breeder offspring.
Qs dont like it and paint needs to be dry before release.
You will hurt some as well so be prepared for that.
I use posco acrylic psychedelic colors.
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Don't mark queens. More than 20 hives.(right now about 80)
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I have 4 hives and I do not mark my queens under normal circumstances. I had a hive go really swarmy this spring and I did mark a queen in that hive so I'd know if I saw a queen other than her. Other than something like that though, I don't mark queens. I just don't need to. I'm pretty good at finding queens, and I get in my hives often enough that I'd notice a supersedure.
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Good afternoon, Ben, Trout, Cao, and Member. I keep max 20 hives. My breeder queens are naturally marked: Cordovan. So I do not mark queens. Italian queens are support hives. I do have one solid black queen that I purchased.
The work is keeping hives under 20 and preventing swarming. I breed against swarming and my best breeder queens are 3.5 years and under.
Ben, I still have a 1 month of age, Cordovan, Thelma Lou that will be evaluated next spring.
Van
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Five hives and don't marked my queens. I keep an eye on the brood patterns and overall characteristics of each hive and weed out the drone population of the less attractive hives. Haven't had much luck with store bought queens so I start a few nucs in the spring for replacement queens if needed.
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Two hives both Q?s came marked.
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More than 20 and I don?t mark queens.
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I have 4 hives and 4 marked queens
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11 hives, and I don't mark them.
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The queens I sell or give to the hobbyist, I always mark. I hate getting calls about them not being able to find the queen.
The queens I sell or give to the commercial, I do not mark unless requested and agreed to a nominal add-on cost.
For my queens in my hives, I mark the best performers whom I am tracking and selecting as breeders for next year. The mark is just so that I can see if and when she has gone missing (swarmed), or died (disease or pest), or has been naturally superseded. For the regular production hives I do not mark until they show me something exceptional.
The colour marked follows the accepted colour code standards for the year the queen was made/mated. For 2019, that is green. I use neon / fluorescent / sparkle versions of the required paint colour.
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I have 20 to thirty hives. Most of my queens are marked.
Jim Altmiller
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The main reason to mark queens is for information. I know how old she is by the color. I know if she's been replaced because she's not marked. The other less important reason is it makes her easier to find... The only time I don't mark a queen is if she's runny and I'm afraid she'll fly. Just mated queens who haven't settled down will sometimes fly, but they usually signal this by being runny.