How long will the Queen last

[gdog]

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

[OldMech]

where exactly is she? 

[gdog]

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

[OldMech]

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.

[gilligan]

How long can you bank a mated queen for and still not have issues?

[Colobee]

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.