A beekeeper needs to know how queens are labeled. The marking of queen bees in color by year will help the beekeeper not to get caught by fraudsters, who often mark queen bees as they please, or sell old queen bees together with bee packages instead of the declared young queen bees. Marked Queen Bee Colors For This Year This is the color guide for marking bees.
They go by the year the queen was born. For example, queens born in either 2013 or 2018 would be marked with a red dot. This color guide helps beekeepers ensure they are dealing with the same queen over time by adhering to a standardized color scheme.
The color guide for marking bees is based on the year the queen was born, with five traditional colors used: white, yellow, red, green, and blue. This system helps beekeepers ensure they are dealing with the same queen over time by adhering to a standardized color scheme. Queens born in years ending with 1 and 6 use a white posca pen, while years ending with 2 and 7 use a yellow posca pen.
Learn how queen bee marking color codes have evolved over the years, from early methods to standardized systems, and discover best practices for accurate marking. The vibrant colors of the marking pens make it super easy to spot a marked Queen bee on a frame full of worker bees, helping in your hive management and identification. Arteza is a trusted brand known for producing high-quality art supplies, ensuring the reliability and performance of the markers for beekeepers.
By marking new born queens with a specific color to each calendar year, beekeepers, wherever they are in the world, can identify the age of the queen bee by the color of her mark. As queen bees very rarely live more than 3-4 years, 5 colors are all that is needed. Essential Guide for Beekeepers Queen bee marking follows a standardized color code system based on the year's last digit, using five distinct colors in a repeating cycle.
This system helps beekeepers quickly identify a queen's age and track her performance, which is vital for hive management. Queen Marking Marking your Queen An internationally agree scheme for marking queens means that you will be able to recognise the year she hatched. This is really useful if you are lucky enough to collect a swarm with a marked queen.
White. Queen Marking Colors When you bought your bees last year, did you notice the queen had a color on her? Unless you have purchased bees more than once, you might not know that the color on the queen bee changes each year. This helps identify the age of the queens we get from different distributors.
Here is how the colors are determined. Queen bee marking colors are chosen alphabetically, with the most common being blue for 2025. The color guide goes by the year the queen was born, with the most common color being red for queens born in 2013 or 2018.
For example, queens born in 2013 or 2018 would be marked with a red color.