I've grafted on the back of my car in 60 degree weather and had 23 out of 26 take. Obviously you don't want your larvae exposed to cold temperatures for to long otherwise they will chill. I try to be quick and efficient when dealing with larvae transfers. I use to really stress out about the conditions. I would only graft at my home yard where I could take the frames inside, however I found this method was not very good especially when some of your best hives are located 30 mins from home. Therefore I started grafting inside my vehicles and have found no ill effects by doing so.
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If my previous suggestion does not work for you, then you can opt for either one of the options you mentioned. Keep in mind that you will have to be very careful and somewhat swift to ensure the quality of your final product. One minor setback I see when transporting the nuc with the nicot cage is that the bees may continue to feed the young larva as if they are going to rear regular bees. But remember at the end of the day it has to be what works for you; things may be done alot different from apiary to apiary obtaining the same results. Trial and error is also your friend 
Thanks again habuti.One minor setback I see when transporting the nuc with the nicot cage is that the bees may continue to feed the young larva as if they are going to rear regular bees. Trial and error is also your friend
I plan in any case to transport the larvae on the day that they are one or at most two days old, so it should be OK if they are fed as regular bees since I plan to graft immediately upon arrival 30 minutes later.
Another thing I am considering is to trasport at the egg stage rather than the larvae stage - is there any reason this is a bad idea? This is obviously only an option with a nicot cage (or a frame full of fresh eggs) but avoids the issue with any 'feeding' during the transport stage.
I am interested enough in this question that I plan to start a new post on the topic.
-fafrd
I am about to use the Nicot system for the first time myself, so I've been reading up about it and have the DVD by David Eyre from Beeworks which is very helpful. From my understanding , it is best to leave the Nicot cage in until you have freshly hatched larva, and transfer only the cups with this freshly hatched larva,...not those with eggs, because it's very likely the bees in the starter hive will dispose (eat) the eggs. Many people have reported this happening,...so it's best to transfer only the cups with the very young larva, which they'll accept much better than eggs.
With regard to how to transport,...in the DVD, David Eyre transfers the cups with freshly hatched larva , from the Nicot cage into their cell cup holders on the frame just after it is taken out of the donor hive. Then, for transporting to the cell builder, he wraps a moist towel over the frame. I don't suspect he has to travel 30 minutes, though.
Denny,
thanks for the suggestion. Several folks have told me that eggs will be canabalized and cannot be transported so I have abandoned that idea. I am going to make a small (3 frame) cell starter ang both graft into that and transport in the cell starter back to my home apiary. After 24 hours I will transfer all of the contents of the cell starter into a queenright finisher (which was also the source of the starter). It is a lot of work for only 10 cells but it should work and I will learn a great deal.
My new problem is grafting conditions. Tomorrow is grafting day and it is supposed to be a cold (mid 50's) and rainy day (suprise, right
Any opinions on which is likely to be more successful appreciated (young larvae in the rain and cold or older larvae in the sun and warmth).
-fafrd
You might consider setting up your cell builder as one queenright starter/finisher ,...placing it at the same location as the donor hive, that is, if you feel that remote location is safe. Don't move it back until you've finished raising queens from that particular donor queen. You wouldn't want to disturb them in any way once they've begun to feed the cells. That way you could assure the quick transfer of larva would not risk chilling or drying....... Just another option I guess.
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