Eggs for test frame

[Fahey]

Advice please, how long will eggs stay viable outside the hive, hours? days?
I could'nt graft them yesterday because of the weather, and it's now 48 hours since I took them out, I have the comb wrapped in a damp cloth.

 

[La Folie]

I don't know the answer to your longevity question but they need to be kept warm and a damp cloth with certainly cool them as the water evaporates.

 

[drstitson]

why are you grafting? a test frame is just a brood frame, that has eggs, taken from one colony and placed in another ?Q- colony.

re longevity - in the bad old days US beekeepers were known to take frames of eggs back to the states from UK - so gives you an idea.

 

[JEP]

Don't fully understand your question. You graft larvae not eggs and it should be done in a matter of a few minutes certainly not hours. 48 hours out of a hive and they have no chance of producing good queens. If the test frame was for insertion into a possibly queenless hive then you should have just gone ahead and stuck it into the hive or not have started the operation in the first place.

 

[Sean.]

People have posted them before, so they can surive for 48 hours in the post. It's not something to recomend though.

 

[Fahey]

I read, that instead of taking the whole frame you can just cut out a section of eggs/larvae and graft it into a queenless hive to see if they make a QC. It's just that yesterday was not a day for opening a hive in my opinion, (in Cumbria). So that's the reason for my question. Drstitson, I have also read about bringing a frame to the US wrapped in a damp cloth, which was succesfully used.

 

[Queens59]

By grafting on I think they mean take a square of eggs/larvae and attach it to a frame in the hive you want to check - but I think it is just if you cannot afford to take a whole frame - it does NOT mean grafting as in queen rearing...

 

[drstitson]

fair enough we're talking grafting comb with eggs.

but why wasn't the procedure carried out on the day when it WAS deemed ok to open a hive (to extract frame for eggs)?

 

[Fahey]

Sorry for the confusion, yeah just attaching it to a section cut out of the frame. Work commitments and pississting down with rain stopped me from doing it yesterday. Anyway did it just now, deffo queenless and bees not too happy, it's a bit overcast and thundery here as well. Got a few stings for my efforts, but it should be worth it in the end.

 

[oliver90owner]

Put that frame back in the original hive and select another! KISS Principle.