Is my colony big enough to survive?

[Mamahilz]

I have a thriving colony and a second small one due to a very late queen (started laying only 15 days ago after a long long wait-). She is now laying well and I have 3 frames of brood in all stages and two frames of stores as well as 5 super frames of stores. I gave 1 frame of brood from my thriving colony when i discovered the queen had decided to lay, but the numbers were dwindling after such a long wait. Should i give another frame of brood from my thriving colony? They are not drawing out more comb so i thought if i give a frame of brood about to emerge it would provide some young bees and give more laying space for the queen- ready for the winter. is this a sensible idea?
comments and advice please

 

[george]

Probably still enough time to build up for Winter .

If you can differentiate between frames of brood at differing stages , move a frame of emerging brood from the strong hive to the weaker one . A frame of brood is worth a couple of frames of bees .
G

 

[rae]

Depending on how big your "thriving" colony is - give up to two frames of brood that is about to emerge - capped brood. This won't require much work from the target colony, will emerge in less than a week and give it a huge boost.

Not sure if they are in a nuc or a hive, but talk of supers seems optimistic - if you have a super on, I'd take it off. Small colonies need to be concentrated in small space, with sufficient room for growth, but not cavernous supers to get lost in.

 

[george]

Rae makes a good point which I didnt notice when I read through . Removing the super would bring down the space they have to keep to temperature .
Make their lives as easy as you can at the moment .

Also if you bear in mind it will be a few weeks before your new bees are collecting nectar for stores , it may be worth giving them a small feed to help draw out any foundation in the hive .

g