# brood temperature



## Rader Sidetrack (Nov 30, 2011)

Regardless of your _search _skills, it does not seem very likely that you will get a _useful _answer in terms of _minutes_. :lookout:

Bees attempt to maintain their brood at about 94 degrees. If the air temperature outside the hive is also 94 degrees, clearly you can be a slowpoke without any issue.  If the ambient temperature is 35 degrees, the situation will be quite different.


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## Lauri (Feb 1, 2012)

A nuc box that can be closed up tight with a few heat packs should do the job of holding them without too much exposure. Unless you have to work on them during that time. I use those disposable heat packs all the time. Keeps queen cells warm for transport, keeps newborn baby bunnies warm overnight in bitter teemps,etc. Even kept incubator warm during power outage.


I'm curious. Are you talking about doing a cut out?


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

Does anyone know of a minimum temperature that you could safety work with brood exposed to the air for a 10 to 15 minute span for brood removal from a cut out type condition. Is it safe to do it when it is in the low 70s.


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## Saltybee (Feb 9, 2012)

I do not graft that fast, mid 70's no problem with all the bees removed.


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

Saltybee that is exactly the type information I was looking for. Many thanks


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## Dominic (Jul 12, 2013)

A fellow beekeeper tried using compressed air cans (the kind for dusting keyboards and the like) to chill brood instead of using liquid nitrogen. That stuff gets pretty cold. Yet, despite this, the attempts to intentionally chill the brood failed, and that brood gave viable workers.

I don't think capped brood is easy to chill. It is much easier to chill graft larvea, however, I believe. The grafts I did on cool days had considerably lower success rates than those on warmer days.


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

Dominic - That is welcomed information. I know it is winter in lots of places but here in TX we could easily be in the 60s to 70s with a few days in the 80s into December. I have had several people approach me about bees they want gone and are not willing to wait until spring. I would rather do that to increase the colonies chance of survival, but if they are talking of spraying them and then tearing out the wall to get rid of the comb, maybe I can salvage the colony. Just was worried about removing the comb and the brood dying.

My queen is still laying fairly strong. So I don't really know when bees on the TX coast quit laying


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## JonnyBeeGood (Aug 2, 2012)

Can I throw a similar question in the mix? I found a weak hive in a 5 frame nuc, with only a handful of bees & the queen on a small amount of capped brood on the verge of starvation because they wouldn't leave the brood. It's in the 20's & 30's at night and 40's-50's daytime here in Ct. 
So in a last ditch effort to save them I brought them in the house!! Yes, the wife is lovin' it!!! 
So will the brood stay warm enough in the house to allow the bees to move about, eat, and maybe move some stores? Might it encourage the queen to lay eggs? I'm thinking their chances are not very good... 
If I give them an exit to the outside, keep the room about 70 degrees or so... What do you think??
There is plenty of honey & pollen and the next warm day I plan to shake in some nurse bees. 
Crazy, I know!!! 😜


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## marshmasterpat (Jun 26, 2013)

Jonny - Seems like it is worth the effort is you are shoestring it like me. A batch of nurse bees seems like it would help as well. Hope your wife is understanding about a free bee in the house or two. :no:

I will find out if they can take exposure to 65 degree temperatures for anywhere from 5 to 15 minutes, then dropped in a super. Did two cutouts and there is a third there waiting. Had small amounts of brood plus some larvae in each one and a lot of fresh comb honey. Wind blowing the whole time from the north at about 15 and the temperature in the mid 60s. Once they got stirred out of their cover, those ladies were not happy. 

Pulled 10 frames worth of medium comb from one colony and 9 frames medium comb from the other. Scattered brood on some of them, but mostly all honey and limited amount of pollen. But they are in a site with tons of wildflowers, not sure why they did not have more. 

Hope the brood make it.


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## BGhoney (Sep 26, 2007)

I have heard of a demonstration where the Instructor put a frame of capped brood in a freezer for 30 minutes, put them back in the hive and they emerged just fine. Never done it myself.


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## Saltybee (Feb 9, 2012)

For the tough love approach; http://www.beesource.com/forums/showthread.php?290848-moving-bees-when-it-is-cold


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