[Jadeguppy]

I marked a queen with a new Painters nontoxic pen today. Her hive is tiny and just starting to build. Four+ hours later we find her balled, four hive down, on the landing pad of one of the largest hives. We dug her out and put her in a roller cage. She is back in her hive for the night. Is there a difference between Painters pens and Posca? I had no known issues using Posca last year and wonder if it is the pen or a coincidence. I find it interesting that she passed two queenless hives to get to the one we found her on.

 

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was the queen still making mating flights jg?

 

[Jadeguppy]

Good question. I don't know if they requeened already or if she was one of the few I didn't mark last year. I didn't write down if there were eggs. I know there were capped brood. I have several others on mating flights. Are there any stats on how many they usually take? Can they mate after laying eggs? Now I'm curious...

 

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not sure on how many they usually take.

just thought maybe she flew out and came back to the wrong hive.

another possibility is as you mentioned there may have been something about the smell of your marker that caused them to run her out.