Queen Marking - a cautionary tale.

[Adrian Quiney WI]

I tried queen marking today for the first time. I used a queen catcher, and marking tube. I watched the youtube videos, and thought I knew what I was doing. I caught two queens from my well established nuc's and marked them - a little clumsy but I did it.
Then I went to my freshest nucs... Saw a nice fat queen and a pile of eggs. OK, so I chased her all over the frame with the catcher. She flew off. I waited a while and saw that she landed behind me, tried to catch her and off she went. Don't know if she'll be back.
The next nuc the same thing happened.
I've never had a queen fly off before, but I have never hassled one before either. So my question is how long should I wait after a queen has started laying before I attempt to mark her?
Adrian.

[river_rat2005]

as long as shes laying it shouldnt be a problum just move slow so not to spook her
i just pick her up by the wings with my fingers
queens arent apt. to sting

[AR Beekeeper]

I usually let my new queens lay for a month or more before I clip or mark them. By that time they are not as prone to run when I get close to them with my fingers to make the catch. If I miss my catch on the first try I wait until another day because it is easy to injure the queen when she is running.

[Adrian Quiney WI]

Thanks. I just didn't expect this to happen.

[Oldtimer]

The good strong queens, can sometimes surprise you, and fly, even when they are very plump.
The main thing, is not get them too worked up chasing them around.
Not always easy though, I've caged thousands of queens but I'll still sometimes screw up, miss one a couple of times, & chase it around till it fly's.

[knpeterson]

The last few days I've had a booger of a time trying to catch a queen that kept flying off. She hadn't started laying yet but I had marked her a week before this. I have queen clips and all that but I've found the easiest way (for me) is to hang her frame she's on, on my my frame perch and make sure the end of my paint pen is good and wet and just give her a quick dot while she's on the frame. I've done this several times now and it has been far easier than trying to run them down and worry about hurting them that way.

[BerkeyDavid]

I find the best way to get "in the groove" is to catch a few drones and mark them. It is great practice.
When they do fly off, just sit and wait and don't move, they will always comeback, sometimes they will fly back into the hive. In which case I just close it up.
I set the frame she is on on my knees, grab her by the wings with my right hand, then transfer to my left hand and hold her by the legs with her butt away from me. That way you can clip her or mark her or both with your right hand.

Then I put her in a cage for the paint to dry for a few minutes, return the frame, and then if she is going back in the hive release her after the paint has dried.