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Freshly mated queen just back from mating flight. Notice remains of Drone's sexual organs still attached. Photo by Dr. Buddy Marterre, President of Forsyth County Beekeepers
Photo taken a few minutes later shows mating sign now gone from queen. Photo by Dr. Buddy Marterre, President of Forsyth County beekeepers
Queen cell that is near hatching. Note how it looks somewhat like a peanut shell. in general, a hive builds two types of queen cells. Supercedure cells are located about mid level on the frame like the one in the photo. They are for replacing the current queen. Swarm cells are located at the bottom of the frame and are for production of a queen to swarm. Sometimes a cell to replace the current queen has to be placed where available eggs are already, because the queen is not present. This could happen when queen suddenly dies, is mashed by a careless beekeeper or a split is made with eggs for making a new queen.
Queen in a queen cage (see blue mark on her). White candy is visible in end. The bees eat the candy to release the queen and the hive gets used to her while this process goes on. Without releasing this way, the hive would "ball" her and kill her.
Queen Larvae floating in Royal Jelly in queen cell
One of the things to look for when observing your hive is the brood pattern. Here Edd Buchanan shows off a text book excellent frame of brood from one of his well managed hives. A poor brood pattern can be a sign of a poor or failing queen.
This queen appears to be failing or gone. As you can see there is very little brood and the cluster is very small. This kind of situation can occur in bees coming out of the winter months. Close inspection should allow you to catch a failing queen at other times of the year before the cluster dwindles to this small. This colony is at great risk even with a new queen as the numbers are so small. A new queen would need a few workers added also to assure she could make it. Another possibility is the small cluster is due to starvation. Notice there are pollen stores but no honey stores on this frame
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Unmarked queens can be difficult to spot, but you can be resonably sure she is there even if you do not see her if you spot fresh eggs. A good pattern of fresh eggs shows she is laying well. Be careful putting the frames back when you do not know where she is as you can easily kill her by accident.
Emergency queen cells like this may appear if your colony suddenly goes queenless and they have to make queen cells using existing eggs or larvae
The queen is visible in this photo. Can you find her? If you think so and want to check yourself or if you give up scroll down to the same photo below with red mark on her.
You can probably see why marking your queens might not be a bad idea for beginners as well as advanced beekeepers
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To mark a queen, you need a paint pen. Testers model paint pen will work fine. Catch the queen gently by the wings. This can be done by placing your thumb and forefinger on each side of her and closing them together as you raise your finger and thumb up. This will cause the wings to be pinched together and she can not get away. Next, you need to GENTLY grip her by the legs. Do not mash too hard,there are pheromone glands in the legs, and make sure you have at least two legs griped between your finger and thumb. Don't worry, queens can sting but do not. I have talked to people who have handled queens for years and they have NEVER been stung by a queen.
Mark the queen on the black smooth area on the back of the thorax. This will not bother her and if you will wait just a few moments the paint will dry enough for you to release her. Again, do not worry, she can sting, but she will not. The color can be used for various information. A specific color for the year of the queen hatching is commonly used to identify age.
