How do I find the queen?

Question

What is the best way to find my queen?

Answer 1

The best way to locate the queen bee is to quickly scan each frame one-by-one for an elongated bee compared to the rest. You need to find a frame with fairly fresh eggs. The queen will either be on this frame or one next to it.

 

Remember to always inspect each frame over top of the box. This way if she falls, she will fall back into the hive.

Answer 2

It helps if you have marked queens. Much easier to spot a red, green or other colored spot. Diff.colors for diff. years. This also helps you keep track of how old your queen is.

"Be Warned You Require Gloves"; Blue White Yellow Red Green. Years ending in "0" & "5" = Blue, 1 & 6=White, 2 & 7=Yellow, 3 & 8= Red and 4 & 9= Green.

 

Answer 3

The queen has a specific shape. Find pictures of them and watch videos like youtube to become familiar with her look. As you inspect the hive look on all frames for her paying special attention to the frames that have eggs on them. But I have foud her on the pollen frames and the capped brood.Marking can help the new beekeeper but some feel it may diminish her vigor.

Answer 4

Look carefully!  She's longer than workers and slimmer than drones. Usually on or near new eggs. Once you've found her she's best marked so she's easier to spot in future.

Just make sure she's laying before marking as a bright spot of paint on a flying bee will make her a target for predators when she goes on her mating flight.

Answer 5

Just like the name suggests, a queen bee is a very important bee that will guarantee her close attention just like VIPs in our political space. The queen bee will be surrounded by many worker bees who will be attending to her in terms of feeding, cleaning and grooming. To locate queen bees, you will first look at where many worker bees are next to newly harched eggs. To identify her, she has a longer body than the rest with shorter wings. Sometimes it is very difficult to locate her if you are not keen since she is usually given tight protection.  You need to be keen and patient. Without a queen bee, the colony is dead.

Answer 6

Adding to the answers received already, I kind of focus out and look for the large black dot.  A queen also stands a little taller on the frame and sometimes you can look down the frame across the bees and see her stand up a little.  I also always look to see if there anything that resembles the queen's court or retinue response.

During laying periods she'll almost always be in the vicinity of the core brood nest frames.