Queen Bee colour coding
Around the world, apiculturists (beekeepers) employ a series of colour codes to identify queen bees and indicate their age. A smudge of harmless quick-drying paint is applied to the thorax of the bee so that it stands out within the hive's population. It seems the origin of this colour coding derives from the work of the Nobel Prize-winning Austrian zoologist Karl Von Frisch, who researched the language, orientation and direction-finding of bees as well as their senses of hearing, smell and taste. The queen bee colour coding system operates as follows:
| Colour | last digit of year | example | mnemonic |
| White | 1 or 6 | 2006 |
Will |
| Yellow | 2 or 7 |
2007 |
You |
| Red |
3 or 8 |
2008 |
Raise |
| Green |
4 or 9 |
2009 |
Good |
| Blue |
5 or 0 |
2010 |
Bees? |
A number of bee-keeping journals change their jacket cover annually to match.
