Glossary
A standardized international color-coding system used by beekeepers to identify the age of a queen bee by painting a small dot of colored paint on her thorax. The five-color rotation (white, yellow, red, green, blue) corresponds to the last digit of the year the queen was introduced, repeating every five years.
The international queen marking system uses five colors in a fixed rotation: White or gray for years ending in 1 or 6 (2021, 2026). Yellow for years ending in 2 or 7 (2022, 2027). Red for years ending in 3 or 8 (2023, 2028). Green for years ending in 4 or 9 (2024, 2029). Blue for years ending in 5 or 0 (2025, 2030).
The mnemonic Will You Raise Good Bees (White, Yellow, Red, Green, Blue) helps beekeepers remember the order. A blue-marked queen in 2025 and 2026 tells the beekeeper she is entering her second year, providing immediate age assessment during inspections.
Queen marking serves two critical purposes: finding the queen during inspections (a bright dot on one bee among 50,000 makes her dramatically easier to locate) and tracking queen age (knowing when each queen was introduced helps plan requeening before age-related productivity decline).
Queen marking also reveals supersedure events. If you marked a green queen in 2024 and find an unmarked queen in 2025, you know the colony replaced the queen without your knowledge. This information affects management decisions: was the original queen failing? Is the new queen performing well?
Gently capture the queen in a queen marking cage or hold her carefully between your fingers. Apply a small dot of queen marking paint (or a numbered disc) to the center of her thorax. Allow the paint to dry for 30-60 seconds before releasing her back to the colony.
When done carefully, marking does not harm queens. The brief handling stress is minimal. However, rough handling during the marking process can injure or kill her. Practice on drones first. Some beekeepers use numbered discs (glued on) instead of paint for easier identification.
No, but it is highly recommended. Marked queens are dramatically easier to find during inspections, and knowing queen age helps you plan requeening schedules. Most experienced beekeepers consider queen marking an essential management practice.
Keep Learning
Browse hundreds of terms covering honey, beekeeping, and natural skincare.