I picked up my 10, 3lb packages today and installed all of the with out any major issues. I was also given a extra Queen in the event one of the package Queens were not alive. I managed to get about 30 workers to keep the Queen company and feed her. My plan is to go to my over wintered hive and pull a few frames of brood and make a nuc. I am going to be out of town till Friday, will she be ok until Saturday when I can get everything in order for the nuc?
Thanks in advance
where exactly is she?
she is still caged, have her in a package container the other bees came in, have water and honey for the worker bees with her
As long as those bees care for her she will be fine... I would rather make a small nuc with a couple frames of nectar and nurse bees to care for her.. allow them to release her, then on Saturday do a newspaper combine.. the chances of her surviving will be much better.
How long can you bank a mated queen for and still not have issues?
There are reports of people banking queens, forgetting them all winter, and having them lay the following season. There are also reports that any time in a bank is not good for the queen's reproductive capacity.
To the OP - I've banked 20+ queens in a strong queen-right hive for a couple weeks. I used two queen excluders - one above & one below a super the bees were working ( main colony queen below, of course). The queens were banked above the top excluder, under a shimmed inner cover, so there was little chance the banked queens would be chilled. I've also kept queens in the mailing envelope for 3-5 days, providing water to the attendants as needed, daily-ish.