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Learn how to mark and cage a queen honeybee. Beekeepers mark queen bees with a enamel paint pen to keep track of their age. Plus she stands out more in the hive which makes it easier for inspections. Marking is usually done before caging the queen bee. This allows the queen to be installed in a hive without bothering her again to mark her. Disturbing her to mark her may slow down laying for a few hours to a few days. So for this reason it only makes since to mark before caging. The queen bee is the heart of any bee colony. Without her the population dwindles to nothing. So in this video I will show you how to catch and cage a queen honeybee. This is done when selling queens or introducing a new queen to a colony of bees. Most queen cages have an escape hole which is filled with candy. Once the cage is placed in it's new hive the colonies existing bees will eat at the candy until the queen is set free. I have heard of people using marsh mellows as candy. But usually the hole in the cage is filled with fondant. What I find easiest is mixing a couple spoons of sugar with a few drops of hot water. I let this set out of a hour to let it harden a little. Then I pack the cage exit hole with the mixture. If your new to this maybe you are wondering why you can't just drop new queen into a queen less hive. Well a queen bee puts off pheromones to communicate with her colony. Bees can tell when a new queen is in a hive which could result in her death. Where if she is in a cage by the time they eat the candy their anger for her has turned to acceptance. Since the queen bee has needs she is unable to take care of herself a few worker bees are needed as attendance. These bees will eat at the candy in the cage then feed her. ***************************************************** Check out my channel to see more great beekeeping videos: http://www.youtube.com/user/creekroad1 My Bee Channel https://www.youtube.com/creekroad1 My Most Popular Video https://youtu.be/3M8iB_Kus_w My Bee Blog http://honeycomb-hill-beekeeping.blogspot.com/ My Organic Holistic Farming Channel https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCQ9TVclPCb6mDm4Ve2jLiGQ *****************************************************