Marking Queens.

There's not a lot of rocket science to marking a queen, it takes a steady hand and some guts.

The first part of marking your queen is finding your queen.

Nature provides the best paint tool, a clover flower has a nice hook on the end so as not to be pressing directly down onto your queen.

It also keeps your hand from spooking her or blocking the sunlight.

The thorax does not need to be completely covered.

Once you hit her, she's not going to sick around for a "touch up". If you attempt to add more paint, you're likely to cause more harm by getting paint in areas that could cause problems, like her eyes.

She is plenty visible with just a spot of paint on her back.

Color codes are used to determine the year of the queen.

Years ending in:

0&5 Blue

1&6 White

2&7 Yellow

3&8 Red

4&9 Green