Worse still if it is a misspent middle age!
I have never washed my queen crack pipe either and it does not seem to annoy the queens or the workers.
I find it useful for getting a queen out of an apidea especially if she is on the side wall.
At one point I thought it would be better just to pick up queens for marking and clipping but in terms of teaching a group of people, I think the pipe or the plunger cage are good tools for moving queens about, clipping and marking.
A lot of people will never be comfortable picking up or handling a queen but it is important that they learn to clip and mark by themselves without having to phone a friend every time.
So I think these tools have their use.
Not everyone has the same level of dexterity or confidence handling queens and I think moving marking or clipping using one of these tools is a massive improvement over not being able to do it all all.
It is one of the most rewarding things in the queenrearing group when you see people acquire skills they did not have before.
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