In article <[log in to unmask]>, Computer
Software Solutions Ltd <[log in to unmask]> writes
>I am of the opinion that finding and marking queens is an utter waste of time.

snip

>So all we have to do is to sieve the bees through a pristine queen excluder
>and the objective is achieved.

Yes it works.

It can take up to 15 minutes a colony to do it though, and is very
disruptive to the colony.

Our first job on the hives each spring is to go through them all and
find, plus mark and clip if necessary, ALL our queens. It takes a couple
of weeks to get round them all, but it pays back handsomely later in the
season when we need to combat swarming.

Unmarked queens are much slower to find (even although we KNOW what box
she is in, as we are on singles with excluders in the early half of the
season). This easily doubles examination time at a critical phase.

Unclipped queens can swarm earlier than clipped. They can go at the
first opportunity, whereas, although they may try, clipped ones cannot,
until they bail out at the last moment before virgin(s) hatch, onto the
nearest bit of foliage above ground level that they can run to.

You have a pretty good idea of the age of a queen if you use a colour
code.

It can seem like a futile task whilst doing it, but using our methods of
colony control we could not cope in the peak season if we did not have
marked queens.

With practice it does become quite easy and quick.

--
Murray McGregor