[Jaseemtp]

So I think I just fouled up big time.
I have decided to start marking my queens. When I found one of my queens today I decided to mark her. It is a small colony and smoke was not required to look at them. Well she was given a pretty pink dot (my color for old queens).
After just a moment in my hand and a new dot I added her back. There were a few workers who attacked her. Was it the dot? Did I possible just lose a queen? I did go back and smoke each and every frame to help mask the smell of my mess up.

 

[Bill91143]

So I think I just fouled up big time.
I have decided to start marking my queens. When I found one of my queens today I decided to mark her. It is a small colony and smoke was not required to look at them. Well she was given a pretty pink dot (my color for old queens).
After just a moment in my hand and a new dot I added her back. There were a few workers who attacked her. Was it the dot? Did I possible just lose a queen? I did go back and smoke each and every frame to help mask the smell of my mess up.

My guess is they were trying to clean the paint off her.

 

[dynemd]

What kind of paint did you use?

 

[oldiron56]

Same thing happened to me last year in a mating nuc they just jumped her and balled her, she was laying too, thats when I mark em, made me not want to mark them anymore

 

[RustyKnight]

I did the something similar when I was new. The problem is that they were not used to her new smell. I have found that to stop the bees from balling and killing the queen, you need to leave her in some kind of queen cage for awhile so the bees get reacquainted. The last queen I marked I used a marking cage- a clear plastic tube with mesh on one end and a push up plunger in the other. After marking through the mesh I pulled the plunger down an inch or so to give her room, then set the whole thing down on the top bars of the open brood box. In just a few minutes the worker behavior changed and they were trying to feed her so I was able to direct release. She walked across a top bar and down into the brood box with no trouble. I don't think the kind of paint matters, but it must become totally dry.

 

[Michael Bush]

I usually mark them in a tube and wait for her to dry before reintroducing her. My problem is usually them removing the paint...