Marking Queens

[Michael Palmer]

Why does it cost a buck to have your queens marked?

Imagine trying to mark this queen. With 500 "holes" or mating nucs in the field, there are a lot of bees in the air. Some become absolute pests. The bee with all the paint on her was surely the most persistant. I could move to another nuc on the far side of the group of nucs and she'd show up in a minute or two. Most of these bees are just in the way but occassionally you get one with evil intentions. They usually wind up stinging my fingers and not the queen.

[HONEYDEW]

I think i'll pay the buck..looks like you use a box knife just like me, nice thumb

[rrussell6870]

Yep. The first 100 or so holes are a breeze... the next 100 are a bit of a nuisance... the next 800 your fingers are so full of alarm and queen scents that you can rarely see your hand... I only offer marking as a "if the conditions are right and you want us to, we will" kind of thing... if its 100+ with 98% humidity while we are caging, they aren't getting marked... if its foggy or drizzling, they aren't getting marked... if its windy, they aren't getting marked... but if it happens to be a mild day, we will mark them upon request for free... its not worth the dollar to me... I can cage 300 or so in a tee shirt without ever getting a single sting and never fumbling a single queen... but that extra handling can sure be a pain when working so many...

[jim lyon]

[QUOTE=Michael Palmer;712731]

Some become absolute pests. The bee with all the paint on her was surely the most persistant. I could move to another nuc on the far side of the group of nucs and she'd show up in a minute or two. Most of these bees are just in the way but occassionally you get one with evil intentions. They usually wind up stinging my fingers and not the queen.




Reminds me of one of my favorite gripes: Why when there are a million (literally) bees here is there just one really mean bee that dosent leave you alone, why not either thousands or none at all. Then one day while reading beesource it dawned on me, the people on here are like bees......

[Keith Jarrett]

Then one day while reading beesource it dawned on me, the people on here are like bees......

haaa! That was priceless Jimmy. lol

[Honey-4-All]

Why does it cost a buck to mark a Queen?

Because there are only 720 hours in April.

You will be hard pressed to find someone in this business that isn't running on all 100 cylinders when April comes around. If they aren't they ought to be.

Any job anyone is doing ( ie. marking queens) is another job that's not getting done. In April this is a bigger factor than anything else. If it doesn't happen in April its not happening for the year. Why would I want to mark queens for 50 cents when I'm missing out on a bucks worth of future honey production.


If your still lost please read the following paste from THE ECONOMIST: Regarding

Opportunity cost

The true cost of something is what you give up to get it. This includes not only the money spent in buying (or doing) the something, but also the economic benefits (UTILITY) that you did without because you bought (or did) that particular something and thus can no longer buy (or do) something else. For example, the opportunity cost of choosing to train as a lawyer is not merely the tuition fees, PRICE of books, and so on, but also the fact that you are no longer able to spend your time holding down a salaried job or developing your skills as a footballer. These lost opportunities may represent a significant loss of utility. Going for a walk may appear to cost nothing, until you consider the opportunity forgone to use that time earning money. Everything you do has an opportunity cost (see SHADOW PRICE). ECONOMICS is primarily about the efficient use of scarce resources, and the notion of opportunity cost plays a crucial part in ensuring that resources are indeed being used efficiently.

We charge $2 and I still think its an opportunity cost looser when we do it.



Can someone please tell me why anyone would mark queens in the field?

[Lost Bee]

This marking of queens is especially helpfull for a novice bee keeper to rapidly
find his or her queen and to make sure the queen hasn't been replaced by a
virgin queen. I would be scared to damage the wings or legs and render the
queen useless. I guess it's worth the $2 each to get them marked if you
can get them that way. I really like the number marking stuff. For this
breeders should charge $4 per queen. Please don't sting me for saying
that. I know I would like a number to keep tabs on who is who. The
only thing that is missing is a bar code or name tag.

Those tube marking cages is the only way I would try. I have seen a few
videos of queens piping (bee noise) and I know that would make me drop
any queen I would be holding.

To those who do grab their queens with the hands. I give you all a two thumbs up.
I bet it takes practice to get it right. I imagine that's why they say practice on the
drones first.