I requeened a hive today that i removed a slacker queen from. she's in a cage with candy and a couple of workers. i would like to give her another chance to prove herself worthy of life by putting her in a 5 frame nuc. I would like to do so with minimal impact on my other hives since all of them are from '08 packages. i have some frames with honey and pollen available and some frames with drawn comb. could i start a nuc for her with an empty drawn comb frame, a frame of honey, a frame of pollen, and a frame of brood with clinging nurse bees? would you use sealed brood or open brood? After she is released I would add another empty drawn comb frame. I would rather pinch her than deplete my other hives. Would one frame of nurse bees be enough? If she doesn't start popping out eggs after release she will be history.
One frame of capped brood with attached bees is plenty. Just make sure they have ample honey and pollen as the foragers will be minimal. Drawn comb only no foundation.
Any bees on any of the frames chosen for you nuc can be put into the nuc. Mixing of frames from several hives (lessening the impact on hives started from packages) is okay, I do it every time I do a split or start a nuc. Bees are territorial on interlopers coming into the hive from outside, bees within the hive are accepted as belonging there.
If you have 3 hives pull a frame from each and leave the bees attached. It will give the hive a higher population and work better over all.