How is a queen bee supposed to be held in the hand to be marked with
a dab of paint?
     I have picked queen bees up to clip their wings.  First, I
picked them off the comb by their wings and then held them in the other
hand with thumb and forefinger above and below the thorax while I clipped
one side.  Today, I picked up a queen bee to paint it and realized that
the grip for clipping won't work for painting.  I ended up holding the
queens by putting thumb and forefinger on the sides of the thorax and part
of the abdomen, too.  Can they be painted while being held by the wings?
     Further, the first of two queens I marked scooted to a crevice between
frame and comb and appeared to be trying to reach the fresh dab of White
Out on her thorax with one of her legs.  The second queen did not act as
though she were upset by the paint.
     I was clipping queens because, in the Spring of '95, we had no feral
bees in our area and swarms had a wide choice of homes.  I wanted a
chance to catch the swarms before they left for a new home.
 Tim Sterrett,
Westtown, Pennsylvania, USA
[log in to unmask]