BBKA Forum

Had a really good example tonight of the value of clipping in extending the time / number of inspections you get to spot swarm cells before they are off.

Had a colony in May produce swarm queen cells and no sign of queen, so made some splits with cells that are due to emerge tomorrow. Decided to give a quick look through to check no emergency cells:

Saw eggs in one part and thought z”hold on!”..
There was my old clipped queen (her mark had nearly rubbed off). Still wandering about happily. Proof of observed fact that a clipped queen will often remain long after first queen cell is sealed - giving you potentially up to three weekly inspections to spot cells without even losing the old queen.

Some might think - ah yes, but what if they we’re actually superseding not swarming? Yes possibly, but in late May / early June I would prefer to act not hope. And I have seen it enough to times to know it’s not a one off.

Patrick, it's been a weird old year. I had loads of supersedures cells drawn late April after most queens had gone off the lay due possibly to the coldest April on record. Nowt wrong with queens as they all resumed laying later... I had (hopefully wisely) destroyed the erroneous cells. All was "normal" for a while. Three weeks of decent weather and most want to now swarm, not unexpectedly. But like yourself am seeing "hidden" sealed queen cells and queen still laying....sometime you just want to give up trying to explain what is going on /throws head into hands?.
I'm now in my usual June uncertainty of lots of boxes of bees, many with unmated queens/ some with bought in queens/some with queens yet to mate etc etc....all will be resolved come August.
It's not easy /wry grin/
On original subject I clip most queens but have a few hives where I've yet to see a queen :/LOL/....But clipping is such a major way of keeping your workforce from absconding when you get it all wrong it's amazing and should be standard practice.

I'd love to be able to have the confidence to clip my queens. I'm fairly heavy handed so I'm afraid of squashing her head or crippling her legs??!!
Is there any easy way to do this?

They are pretty robust are bees and queens.. If you look at an earlier post showing the Thrrnnes twist and mark cage where you cannot crush the queen ......you simply turn the foam plunger until a wing comes out at the top that you can clip. Sometimes it easy sometimes it isn't.

Oh I'll take a look at this thanks if its simple its for me!!!

Both the Thorne’s foam tube and crown of thornes marking cage will allow a wing to stick up and be clipped. Don’t feel it is a cop out - lots of folk do it.

If you pick her up you won’t crush the queen. If you are right handed pick her up by the wings from above, place her on your left thumb and hold her head and thorax in place with your left first and second finger. She will curl her abdomen around your thumb and the wings will stick out.

Practice using drones, which like the queen, won’t sting you. Actually you can just pick up workers by the wings as well. Just pick up bees and put them back again and you will wonder what the problem was. And get a decent sharp pair of small scissors. I have seen people try to clip using things like edging shears..

Thanks Patrick!
I have a "crown of thorns" and still don't find it that way to mark but the plunge foam thing sounds good!
I'll probably end up cutting off both wings if I tried, thats with my glasses!!:)

JoJo - If they are both available then I cut off both wings anyway! I know you are supposed to only cut one side off with chickens primaries, but Queens ain’t chickens. I have “cut a third off one side” and still lost swarms so I just get on with it.

Once they are mated, the only purpose of a queen retaining its wings are to enable them to swarm. Ant queens once they are mated shed their wings entirely. Another advantage of clipped queens is that it accentuates the length of the abdomen relative to workers, making queens easier to spot if they lose their mark.

Twist and turn cage all day long for me..i have fat stiff finger with arthritis so delicately using my fingers with pin point accuracy is not going to happen..the only thing with them twist and turn tubes is be careful with them..

Often you get a pile of workers around the Queen when messing on with the twist and turn tube which can make it hard to see if the Queen is fully in the tube or NOT.. up to date i have not splatted a Queen when marking and clipping but workers have bit the bullet once the sponge piston is inserted..

Patrick wrote: ↑

05 Jun 2021, 21:51

If you pick her up you won’t crush the queen. If you are right handed pick her up by the wings from above, place her on your left thumb and hold her head and thorax in place with your left first and second finger. She will curl her abdomen around your thumb and the wings will stick out.

I tend to put the queen on my middle finger and then the thumb and first finger hold her in place. Young queens tend to wriggle more than older ones. I have some nail scissors I use exclusively for the purpose.