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:

See Chart Below.   e.g. In 2020 the Queen = BLUE   – 2021 = WHITE

COLOUR             YEARS

White              =     1    +  6

Yellow             =     2    +  7

Red                  =      3    +  8

Green              =     4    +  9

Blue                 =      5    +  0