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A queen should have emerged in Nuc #1 last weekend. I went in today to see if she had begun to lay eggs. The first frame had no new eggs and all the capped brood had emerged. Frame 2 Also had no eggs or brood but did have the New Queen. Though my colonies have generated many queens this is the first one I meant to make. Woohoo! it worked
The marking tools are always in the work bucket. It took a bit to get her in the tube though. A worker bee always trys to get stuck in there with the queen. 2 small dots of white paint and a minute of drying later shes marked.
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| Marked Queen Bee |
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| Still making Mating Flights |
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Nuc #2 had 3 Queen cells on the first frame I pulled out. Only 2 were capped. There was still plenty of worker capped brood on that frame too. I didn't look any further and closed it up.
The nucs are looking good so far. Once a queen begins to lay I plan on adding the second nuc box with filled honey frames.
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5 comments:
What a present for the birthday season...way to go BCB!!!! Much love to you.
how do you like the marking tube? i have never tried one.
Great job on the new queen! Looks like things are hopping in your yard!
How do you get the queen in the marking tube? Do you just put the mouth of it over the queen and she walks up into it or do you use another tool to catch her and transfer her into the tube?
immwia
You said it! These bees are filled with gifts. Some a little more poignant then others though. Love you & thanks
The Tube
I like using the tube but then I've never marked a queen without it. I'm afraid that if i try to pick up queens with my fingers I'll end up damaging a lot of queens. The tube lets me trap, immobilize, mark, & dry the queen both quickly and safely.
I do use the tube to trap the queen. Laying queens are easier to catch; a second or two. They're plodding around looking for the next cell. The virgin or mating queens run all over the place. It's a bit of effort to corral them; several minutes. Once the tube is over them they do climb into it.
It's a gloves off procedure though. I tried it once with the gloves on and almost mashed her with the plunger. I was in a hurry so didn't take them off. Gloves are just too clumsy around queens.
Hope you two have a good honey season. Thanks
Great post
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