We just got a swarm. Have some ?'s

if you have enough bees in there, they should be able to keep that frame warm, but there may not be enough foragers and guard bees.

if the bees are flying good, it's plenty warm.

again, i would not attempt any of this at this time of year.

but on the brighter side, it's giving you a good learning experience, and if they make it under these trying circumstances, you might have some good bees there.

the biggest problems to me are:

not enough bees
not enough stores
not enough time
the queen might have been superceded due to age or poor performance.

i'll let some of the others chime in.

good luck.

It is a good learning experience.
My friend is in his second year with these bees and started them from packages.
Not sure how old the queens are that come up from down south.
Thanks for your help.

Moved them this morning and gave them some sugar syrup.
The bottom entrance was reduced down to 1/2 x 3/4"
There was a thick layer of wax cappings on the floor of the hive along with some dead bees.
Couldn't find the queen.

I've written these bees off as a learning experience.

Couldn't get all bees out of the remaining supers before moving them.
When I returned, I smoked the remaining bees out of the supers and taped the entrances shut.

http://i596.photobucket.com/albums/t...86ab586b84.jpg

Bungees are to keep the supers from getting blown over.

those nuc boxes will come in handy next year if you want to make a split.

have you checked out michael bush's website yet?

it's one of my favorites. he has also published a book.

i tried what is described on that site as a cut down split. check it out if you get a chance.