I have a hive that has become problematic. It is new this year from a package. The queen was very weak and the bees immediately attempted to supercede her. After about a week, the queen disappeared from the hive and there were a couple of queen cells in place. Now, 17 days later, there is no queen, no eggs, and very little capped brood. It looks like the supersedure failed. Additionally, the bees that are there are getting mean.
I would like to add a frame of eggs/capped brood from another hive and give them the opportunity to try again. The problem is that the other hive is 15 miles away. This means that anything I remove from one hive spends 20-30 minutes in a nuc box by itself before I can put it into the other hive. How long will eggs and brood survive like this? This week (when I would like to get this done), temperatures should be in the mid-70's. Thanks for any advice.
Mike
I have kept them out 45 minutes or more taking them to a trap out. You should be fine. Just keep them in the interior of the vehicle and out of the wind.
If you're just getting the brood frame without bees, moisten a towel slightly and place it in the sun while you drive over to the other hive. Then wrap the brood frame in the now moist warm towel, it will protect the brood from the wind and sun during the return trip.
Make sure you have bees covering those frames enroute so they can keep temps up and larvae tended to, and you will be fine.
...JP
Good question!
I pulled out a frame that I was not concerned with the eggs and larve. They sat in a nuc by themselves with maybe 25 bees from morning to evening in FL. I was surprised to see a days later that those larve had not been removed but were eventually capped and hatched.
That was surprising to say the least.