[labradorfarms]

My hives are about 6 weeks old. I have lots of brood , eggs ,larva and honey..... So I know the queen is in there. I just can not spot her.........
Are there any tips or tricks to help a newbee spot the queen?

At first I didn't concern myself with looking for her... But I tried in vein to find her my last inspection and I failed.... My eyes are not the best in the world and there are lots of bees in a hive.

I ordered marked queens just for the purpose of seeing the queen easer, but when I got my 2 packages but KB failed to mark them.
Last time I saw the queen was when I installed her.

 

[beepro]

Yes, it is very hard to find the queen bee when they all have the same color.
How many hive boxes do you currently have on?
If it is 1 or 2 boxes then you can put some frames on each box to narrow the search by adding
more boxes on top. Put out a backyard chair to enjoy this process.
Then put everything back to normal again after you marked her with this year's color.
Try to look for a slow crawling big and longest body bee. She should be dragging her heavy body
along the frame with bees surrounding her in a circle where ever she goes. Use a magnifying glass if you
have to. But stay out of the sun so it will not burn your bees. Good luck in finding her!

 

[Colobee]

Sometimes it has taken me 3 tries, going frame by frame through 3 10X mediums, trying to isolate her.

It ain't always easy...

 

[beepro]

When you found the queen what do you do with her?
If nothing and replace the frame back then what is the purpose of finding her in the
first place?

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

When you found the queen what do you do with her?
If nothing and replace the frame back then what is the purpose of finding her in the
first place?

For the practice of learning to find/see her. It can take awhile to learn to do this at a glance. Mostly you just need to be able to recognize eggs and larva so you can tell that all is well. But you will need to find her once your hives grow to the point that you are splitting, for example. Or upgrading queens. Or adding an excluder. And it helps to do these kinds of operations without having to really tear things totally apart because you have a hard time recognizing your queen.

JMO

Rusty

 

[Acebird]

But you will need to find her once your hives grow to the point that you are splitting, for example. Or upgrading queens. Or adding an excluder.

Yes, it might help but I have gone 4 seasons without finding a marked queen. Just because you cannot find a queen does not mean you cannot keep bees.

 

[WWW]

To narrow the search look at the frames with open brood, she will usually be found on these frames. Don't use smoke on the day you are looking for her as this causes queens to run to other parts of the hive. If smoke is necessary then puff it lightly across the tops of the frames and not directly down into the box. Queens have distinguishing features such as an enlarged elongated abdomen and a dark hump on her thorax, learn to look for these and as already stated most likely she will have a ring of worker bees surrounding her. I hope this helps, remember that through practice you will become proficient.

 

[GLOCK]

Once you find her a couple times it get's easier I can find her almost always but it took till my third year to spot the queen just keep trying you'll learn to spot her .
good luck.

 

[Wolfer]

Like Glock said you get better with practice. As a general rule I can find her anymore if I have to. Quite often if I see eggs, young larva and capped worker brood by the 4th frame I don't go any deeper.

It's not unusual for me to have queens that I only see once a year. That's when I pull them from the hive and put them in a nuc. I might see them when I transfer the nuc to a full size box but I often don't look for her.
Woody Roberts

 

[sqkcrk]

Stop looking for her and you'll see her. Kinda like looking for four leaf clovers.

 

[sqkcrk]

But you will need to find her once your hives grow to the point that you are splitting, for example. Or upgrading queens. Or adding an excluder. Rusty

No, not when it comes to splitting. Just shake or brush bees off of combs you want in your split and put them in a box above an excluder.

Yeah, I can see when you want to kill the old queen and install a new queen. I agree w/ that.

Adding an excluder? You must mean under a box already part of the hive. Otherwise, just install the excluder and more boxes.

 

[Rusty Hills Farm]

No, not when it comes to splitting. Just shake or brush bees off of combs you want in your split and put them in a box above an excluder.

True, but when I split, it's usually a 3-way with all new queens, so I want that old queen outta there. Occasionally I want the old queen in a nuc, so I can give the hive a new one, but I don't want to off her. There are lots of reasons to need to find a queen. You just don't need to find her every time you're in the hive. And practice does make it easier to "see" her when you do need to.



Rusty

 

[WBVC]

My hives are about 6 weeks old. I have lots of brood , eggs ,larva and honey..... So I know the queen is in there. I just can not spot her.........
Are there any tips or tricks to help a newbee spot the queen?

At first I didn't concern myself with looking for her... But I tried in vein to find her my last inspection and I failed.... My eyes are not the best in the world and there are lots of bees in a hive.

I ordered marked queens just for the purpose of seeing the queen easer, but when I got my 2 packages but KB failed to mark them.
Last time I saw the queen was when I installed her.

I had the same issue...somewhere in the past few weeks there is a thread on this with great replies. I did as suggested and the following day found and marked 4 queens.

 

[sqkcrk]

True, but when I split, it's usually a 3-way with all new queens, so I want that old queen outta there. Occasionally I want the old queen in a nuc, so I can give the hive a new one, but I don't want to off her. There are lots of reasons to need to find a queen. You just don't need to find her every time you're in the hive. And practice does make it easier to "see" her when you do need to. Rusty

Well said, Rusty.

 

[nobull56]

She will most likely be on a frame that has a LOT of bees, not frames with only a few.

Start away from where you are standing and work the frames toward your self. This was the single most helpful thing I was shown to find my queens. I don't know why it works but it does!

 

[sqkcrk]

And remember, she will always be on the last frame on which you look for her.

 

[spreerider]

i always look for her legs they stick out differently than other bees.

 

[Zbee]

I usually take pictures of the frames when I inspect so I can pour over them later and not be site seeing in the hive more than I have to. I took this one today - can you spot her highness?

 

[Acebird]

Spotting them in a still photo is way easier. If they are moving and my eyes are glancing over frames I cannot find her.

 

[beepro]

yep, I spotted her big long body on the right side. Is she an Italian too?