Queen Bees are marked according to the year of their birth, which then tracks her performance throughout the years. It is important to mark the Queen bee because it aids the beekeeper in finding the queen quicker so as not to accidentally kill her.
First Step: Restrain the Queen
There are couple techniques to do this. The easiest would be to use a “Queen Catcher” which is a plastic device that opens when you squeeze the handle, and then you can gently capture the queen within the contraption. The other option, which requires more skill, would be to pick her up between the thumb and the index finger, and either by the wings or thorax.
Second Step: Introduce her to “tube marking”
This involves a plastic tube with plastic mesh in one end and a plunger device on the other. Then slowly and gently you begin to push the queen up towards the plastic mesh using the plunger device. Be careful not to catch any wings or legs. Then when her thorax(back) is barely touching the surface of the plastic mesh, you can stop pushing.
Third Step: Mark the Queen
Once she is secure and unmoving, you are ready to mark her. Cue the Lion King soundtrack :) Mark her thorax with with either a paint dot or number, indicating her age. Let the mark dry before releasing her from the tube.
Fourth Step: Release and Record
Once she is all dried and ready to show off her new look, you can gently reverse all the steps you took to get her in there. Then introduce her back into the colony. Make sure to be observant to the worker bees reactions to the queen. There may be some instances where the worker bees might reject her, and this case, remove the queen and wait a little bit more, and then release her back.
Now you are able to record the history of the colony in reference to the queen bee. This will help increase the success of your beehives and produce more honey.
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