brood viability

[jdpro5010]

How long can a frame of brood (1 day old larvae) be kept out of a hive and still be grafted for a viable queen?  I have a hive about 20 minutes from my house which I had planned on moving to my house but for various reasons cannot do so now and I want to use it as my donor hive.  I will be using a hive at my place for cell starter colony by the cloake board method.  Can I just transport a frame from that hive to my place and then graft from it, or should I create a small temporary nuc and then recombine later?

[Michael Bush]

I'd build a one frame nuc and put the frame in with the bees attached.  But that's me.  The other alternative is to have a wet hot towel (wet it with hot water from a thermos just before you take the frame) and cover the frame of brood after shaking off the bees to keep it warm and moist.

[jdpro5010]

That was what I was thinking but was hoping to just grab a frame and scoot. :-D