Fluorescent Queen Marking Kit – Numbered Opalitki (1–100)

01 · THE COLOUR CODE

The year chooses it, not the beekeeper

The international code assigns a colour to each year by its last digit, repeating every five. It is what lets you tell at a glance whether a queen is two or six years old, even when the hive record has gone missing:

That is why the kit carries all five colours and not just one: marking year after year, in five seasons you will have used them all.

02 · THE NUMBER

What the colour cannot tell you

Each card holds a hundred discs numbered 1 to 100. The colour groups by year; the number identifies that particular queen and links her to your records: which mother she came from, which nucleus she left, how she performed.

It is the difference between knowing a colony's age and running a selection programme. If you raise queens and want to repeat the best one, without a number there is no way.

03 · HOW TO MARK

A little glue, and let it set

With the queen held still, put a minimal amount of adhesive in the centre of the thorax and carry the disc across with the stick. Nothing on the abdomen, legs or wings: that is where a queen gets ruined.

And you have to wait for the adhesive to set before releasing her. It is the step most often skipped, and the reason the mark turns up on the hive floor three days later.

04 · IF IT IS YOUR FIRST TIME

Practise on drones

The advice is worth its weight: before touching a mated queen, mark a few drones. They handle the same way, nobody gets nervous, and they are expendable.

Five or six drones are enough to get the feel of the glue and of your own hand. The queen comes after.

05 · BEFORE YOU BUY

A complete marking kit, good for several seasons: