mating hives and heat loss

[Finman]

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When we look wintering nucs, 5 frames is minimum worth to overwinter.
Of course i may over winter 2 frame nuc with aid of electrict heating but nuc is not able to make brood in Spring. Even alive the nuc has only value of queen. It needs workers a lot from other hives.

Polynuc is easy to get 5frame nuc in summer but get a hive from cup full of bees in spring needs a huge work input.

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[Little John]

Iitma: Someone posted on here that a pair of Apidea micro-nucs, with upper decks for more frames, fit snugly into a National brood 'deep' brood box. So a basic poly hive could help those wanting to overwinter a few spare queens.

You'd need to get their entrances to coincide, of course ...

But you raise an important point - that in terms of construction materials - there is a world of difference between using mating-NUCs for their original purpose, and the more demanding application of employing them to over-winter mini-colonies.

LJ

I've been mulling this over whilst driving down to the shops ...
If these mating-NUCs need extra protection for winter rearing use, then maybe they're not really best suited for that job ? If you're going to employ a brood box anyway - why not simply sub-divide it and place it over a strong colony to benefit from the ascending warmth ?

The only drawback to this method that I can see is that any feeding of the lower brood box (if and when it should be needed) is complicated by having the NUCs overhead ... that is, unless you use a custom overhead feeder with side-access, between the boxes. (being a plug for an idea still on the drawing board ...).

LJ