Saturday 10 August 2013

Nothing ...... .and then two come along at once....

There's a couple of reasons bee keepers mark their queens...


You spotted her right?

Yep that's the first reason.
It's not essential to see the queen every week when you inspect the hive, its ok to just see eggs - eggs mean the queen has been there in the last three days.  But eggs can be a bit tricksy to see, especially on cloudy days.... so it is reassuring to see the queen and marking her makes her easier to see in all the other bees.

But to mark her ....first you have to catch her...
One of the easiest ways is to trap her in a handy spiky gadget called a crown of thorns...


And then all you have to do is brush off the workers who are trying to stay near her and dot her with paint as she walks under the gaps in the grid...


SIMPLES!


So that's Elizabeth marked! phew! 

The other reason bee keepers mark their queens is to keep track of how old the queen is. There's a cunning sequence of 5 colours (typically a queen has a maximum lifespan of 5 years) and a handy rhyme to help the beginner bee keeper get them in the right order for the appropriate year...

1    6     White          Will
2    7     Yellow        You
3     8     Red            Rear
4     9     Green        Good
5     0     Blue           Bees

It was almost too good to be true when the other  new queens from this year (2013 = red) wandered into view, I couldn't get the crown of thorns over her quick enough....


This queen has been being particularly elusive.  She is actually the daughter of Becky, the queen who made it through last winter.  So you'll have to forgive me if I feel a little sentimental about her.


Now if I follow my normal habit I need to find a queen's name beginning with F....so I'm off to do some research...'cos I have to confess I can't think of one right off the top of my head...unless of course you beat me to it?
Suggestions in the comments box below please....

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