It is common practice to mark the queen with a small spot of paint on her back (thorax) so that the beekeeper finds it better among other bees and to determine their age.
The color indicate the year the queen was introduced.
- white – for years that ends in 1 and 6 (ex. 2011, 2016)
- yellow – for years that ends in 2 and 7 (ex. 2012, 2017)
- red – for years that ends in 3 and 8 (ex. 2013, 2018)
- green – for years that ends in 4 and 9 (ex. 2014, 2019)
- blue – for years that ends in 0 and 5 (ex.2015, 2020)