> Hello everybody! > > Only two questions: > > o There is a simple method to find the queen in the hive? > > o The queen position inside the hive depends of the sun movement? > It essentially takes experience. Marked queens (a dab of paint on the thorax) help but this isn't a guaranteed method. Marked queens are available from queen breeders here. The best way is to look at what the frames contain. If it's stores, the queen is probably not on that frame. If it's capped brood or older uncapped brood, she may be around. If there's eggs, she's very likely nearby, look carefully at this frame and adjacent ones. I find the way she walks or holds her hind legs seems to help as much or more than marked queens or worker "courts". In fact I've never seen my bees form a court around a queen. And it's not because I've had shy queens that run off, one would continue to lay eggs while I'm holding the frame she's on watching her. -Mike