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Queen Marking Colours
Since honey bee colonies and hence queen honey bees can survive a number of years a system of Queen marking colours has been devised which, if followed, give an indication of the age of the Queen. The Queen is marked with a spot of paint on her thorax (between the head and abdomen) and the colour scheme is as follows:-
| 2014 | 2015 | 2016 | 2017 | 2018 | Green | Blue | White | Yellow | Red |
Want to check a different year?
This mnemonic helps remember it.
| Be | Warned | You | Require | Gloves |
| Blue | White | Yellow | Red | Green |
| 0 | 1 | 2 | 3 | 4 |
| 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 |
The numbers are matched with the year end number.