Hello Everyone!
Quick question (I hope I wasn’t useless at the search bar and it hasn’t been asked before) but when do you mark your newly mated queens?
I think it was @JeffH that gave solid advice not to mess/inspect the hive shortly after they present a virgin queen to avoid the Queen being balled and killed, but how long after she’s mated can you confidently take her out to mark her?
Desperate to mark them (3) as it’s sooooo much easier to spot 
Thanks 
KilahCo
Once you have a nice frame of brood from a new queen, I would go ahead and mark her. The hive is very unlikely to ball a high performance queen, because they value what she is doing. 
Thanks Dawn! You’re amazing 
Does the brood have to be capped or can I establish they like her when I see buttloads of eggs? 
I would want to see a patch of brood at least 10cm by 20cm. Not just eggs, but uncapped larvae. Capped brood doesn’t matter/count. The reason is that uncapped larvae make brood pheromone, which keeps the nurse bees happy and probably makes them leave the queen alone.
Thank you Dawn really appreciate it!
I like to give the mated queen a week after her mating flight then check for uncapped brood and mark her then. She and the rest of the colony will be calmer then so less risk of harming her.
I wouldn’t get carried away looking for her daily, for example, bees can get stressed if you interfere too much. My mentor when I began bee keeping told me that just lifting the roof off for a quick look then it will be at least four hours for the bees to calm down and get back to their jobs.
While it is nice to see the queen, and it is so much easier if she is marked, it is more important during an inspection to find the brood as proof that she is there and doing her thing. Actually seeing her is a bonus.
Cheers
Nice looking queen, and a very pretty dot!
Congrats and well done in finding her and marking her. 
Cheers
I did it!!!