Queen Bee Catcher Set, 6-Piece Beekeeping Tools with Marker

Just used it for the first time. Worked perfectly. I don't know why anyone would pay more for the same one from a different supplier, maybe in a different color. There is a small knob attached to the slide on the side, once you have the queen in, you gently slide it up to push her towards the grates at the top. The grates are the same width as a queen excluder so any workers that you scooped up with her can get out but the queen can not. Pause just before the foam plunger is all the way up, wait until she positions herself parallel to the slots with her thorax exposed between and gently push to the top, trapping her in place. The slider mechanism is built so that if she's between the grates it stops positively so you can't crush her but you have to move slowly anyway and only very gentle movement is required- take off your gloves. Make sure her wings aren't caught. She'll be held with her thorax and part of her abdomen sticking slightly through the slot, now you can easily mark her with paint. I left her in that position for 3-4 minutes so the paint could set, then pulled the plunger back, left the gate closed and set it on top of the frames, immediately a lot of workers went through the slots to join her. Left them a few more minutes to be sure the paint was completely dry and smudge proof, then gently pulled the gate open, set it upside down between frames and the queen walked out and down onto the frame, now well marked. Easy. Anyway, if you're somehow hesitant to buy this one instead of the far more expensive one at the beekeeping supply, don't be. It's the same.

Great value and quality is good.

No different in the quality or the construction!!!!! the action of shutting the gate is still as smooth if not smoother than the MANN lake version but the marking pen could be better but have to watch the queen not to get her caught in the door slots

Haven't had the opportunity to use this yet, but my hives are growing, so it shouldn't be long!

Completely Dry marker, when asked for refund, they chose to send another instead, weird.. I will see how the new one is, highly disappointed,

Works well with one necessary modification. Once the queen is captured in the device the plunger with the soft sponge must be kept towards the top or the queen can slip out the side slot and get beneath the plunger. I put a piece of tape across the plunger slot to limit how far down it can move.

A fraction of the cost than the similar ones sold by honey bee equipment suppliers and comparable in quality. The pushing mechanism can stick a bit but other than that it’s a solid queen catcher. Makes it easy to mark your queens without hurting them.

Works great, easy to catch queen, well made, quick delivery.

Great bang for your Buck. Works as it should.

I finally got the opportunity to give this baby a go and I have to say that I am very happy I purchased this! It made marking the queen so much easier than the way I was doing it before. I know others didn’t like the built-in stop but I was super glad it was there. It stopped the plunger (don’t know what else to call it) with just enough room that the queen could maneuver a bit but not much. I also appreciate the soft almost rubber like grill that you mark through. It’s just a little added security that those inexperienced like myself aren’t going to crush our beautiful new queens.

The foam insert doesn’t move high enough to prevent the queen from moving to be able to mark her.