Queen spotting

[Spear]

Sorry this is just a random thought that passed though my mind and I had to share:
I find trying to spot the queen on a frame full of bees is like those search the word puzzles or more like playing 'Where's Wally?'! Every large bee and sometimes even a drone will make you think 'There she is!' and look 2x. But it is actually worse than 'Where's Wally?' because the little boogers are always moving!
Makes it even more rewarding when you really spot her! LOL

[GSF]

I had a fellow tell me the other night he spots the queen by the way she walks. I didn't quite understand what he was saying but I think he said she waddles when she walks. I try finding a large abdomen.

[Better.to.Bee.than.not]

yes that is it exactly really, and not only the way she walks but the bees around her often give her away. but, it is infinitely easier to spot a marked queen than a unmarked one, so may be a good idea to start marking your queens with bee marking pens. It also allows you to know if they've been replaced, and keep track of how old they are too. Now grabbing the queen is freaky at first....seriously, I get it, I was freaked out also. you can spend the few bucks on a pushin marking holder or a plunger marking tube and a paint  pen(Use a testors enamel pen, don't spend $7-$9 bucks for 'the special queen marking pen' thats just dorky.), it's easy really, well once you find her in the first place. but when you get brave, you can learn to without gloves, grab the queen by the wings, delicately,  use your other hand to pinch her legs gently (preferably the front ones, she won't sting you don't worry too much.) and then dab the paint, let it dry and release her.

Also you can be a real pro and use the specific color for the specific year ending in : 1,6=white, 2,7=yellow,3,8=red,4,9=green,5,0=blue too. not a bad idea... this year 2014, would be green.

oh a side note: don't be tempted to just find the queen and dab her with the pen as she walks and be lazy. the bees will clean her off if you do not hold her back a bit and dry the paint first before letting her back into the mix.

[SmokeEater2]

They can be hard to spot especially if they're runners. I split a hive this morning that had swarm cells in it and I wanted to move the old queen to a new hive. I stared at frames until I was cross eyed and was about to give up when she strolled right in front of my line of sight.

 Sure was nice of her to help me out like that.  :)