One year I was frustrated that a lot of the notes we put on the beehives in marker were fading in the sun and becoming illegible. I decided to try "tag markers" available at the vet clinic for putting numbers on blank hog and cattle ear tags. Those markers do leave a mark you can read for years. But the bees would start to attack the marker (and the hand holding it), the moment the cap came off. The solvent in those markers is xylene. Have gone back to cheap markers and coloured tacks. Stan *********************************************** The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned LISTSERV(R) list management software. For more information, go to: http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html Guidelines for posting to BEE-L can be found at: http://honeybeeworld.com/bee-l/guidelines.htm