Hello beekeeping friends,

One persistent recurring thought/question I now have on this subject is, "If
you saw a group of 25 bees with a queen among them, would you recognize which
one was the queen."  Would some of the people who can't find queens even
recognize a queen if they saw one?  Bad eyesight can be one problem that is
very difficult to overcome, but barring that, if you had a box of mixed screws
and bolts, could you sort them into two separate piles?  Recognizing patterns
and differences can be difficult for some people.  In my opinion, you have to
have first seen a queen, watched her walk and act, observe the physical
differences between her and the rest of the bees, then come back to it and
try again.  In my personal experience, having a one frame observation hive in
my livingroom as a conversation piece for two years (with an unmarked queen
each year) was a very helpful item.  I often looked for the queen as an
"exercise" just to see if I could find her.  Sometimes I found her right away
and sometimes I could not find her at all and I had to give up.  Finally,
though, it got so I could find her almost every time.  You have to remember
that my one frame observation hive had glass on both sides and I could both
sides of the frame.  I would often go back to it later with a flashlight and
try again before going to bed.  It was a challenge and fun.  That experience
probably greatly assisted my ability to quickly find a queen because it was
something that I had (unintentionally, but as a fun game) practiced doing over
and over and over again with my observation hive.  I recommend it as a
worthwhile thing to do (keep an observation hive for fun, education, and
practical experience).  Best wishes to all in increasing our beekeeping skills
and having fun while doing it.

Layne Westover
College Station, Texas

p.s. can you pick out the queen when you get one in a queen cage in the mail
with 4 or 5 attendant workers?  There's another good exercise for beginners.
Sometimes it's not easy (in the beginning) to tell which one is the queen,
especially when they are active.