>I made up 20 nucs yesterday with newly-sealed queen cells.  Then we had a
>cold air mass move in - it got down near 40 (or below) last night.  After
>all that work, now I'm quite concerned - are my queens doomed?
>
>Some of the cells were at the bottom of the brood combs.  I fear that they
>might have gotten too chilled, being at the bottom of the hives near the
>entrances.  The nucs were not very populous, maybe three frames of bees.
>Does anyone have any idea whether the queens would die, develop abnormally,
>or just take longer to develop in cool conditions?  I do not know if the
>bees in the nucs would "know" to cluster on the q cells, either.  This cool
>weather is getting annoying - very abnormal for this time of year; the
>black locusts are barely opening leaves yet!  Thank you for any info.   --
>Joel
>
We have had temperatures lower than 40 and the queen cells in our baby nuc's
have survived very well, so there should be no cause for concern. We are
making up baby nuc's and still getting frosts and there doesn't seem to be
any problem.
        Maybe we should put the A-Z of beekeeping in front of the hive for
the bees to read and then they will all know what to do :-)
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   * David Eyre          9 Progress Drive, Unit 2,  *
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