Queen Marking Cage With Plunger

01 · THE SIDE ENTRY

The queen walks in; you only steer her

The oval hole has a raised collar around it. You lift the plunger above the hole, rest the collar over the queen on the frame itself and she walks inside; only then do you lower the plunger until she is resting against the mesh cap. On the classic plunger she has to go in through the mouth of the tube, which is also her way out. A customer summed it up in 2020: quicker for catching queens than the standard plunger cage.

02 · THE PLUNGER DOES NOT BRAKE

You are the stop, with your finger

The metal rod runs through a ribbed bush that guides it, but there is no travel stop: all the feel is in your hand. It is the drawback our own reviews repeat, in 2021 and again in 2025; with thick gloves you press too far without noticing. What works: rest your index finger on the rim of the tube so it acts as a stop, push only until the queen stops walking, and let go as soon as the dot is on.

03 · WHEN TO MARK

In spring, with the queen already laying

You mark her young but already laying and with a calm colony: the spring inspection, a split, or when you collect the mated queen from the nuc. Not during a nectar gap or a robbing spell. Our own despatches confirm it: two out of three units go out between February and June, peaking in March. The colour is not your choice, the year sets it: the international code turns on five shades that repeat every five years. Let the dot dry before releasing her.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

This is a marking tube, not a cage: it does not confine on the comb, transport or introduce queens. To confine there is the push-in cage or the cylinder pressed into the comb; to transport, JZBZ or Nicot cages; to introduce, an introduction cage. And one detail that prevents returns: paint goes through the mesh fine, but glueing a numbered disc calls for direct access to the thorax.