To nuc or not to nuc

[MrMouse]

Hi all,
Just after a bit of beginner advice please.

I’ve got a national hive of 11 frames which I received as a 6 frame swarm a while ago.

Inspected this morning, currently 2 frames of stores, 3 frames of foundation being drawn (moved them towards the centre) and 6 frames of BIAS with some stores around the edges of some.

Bees are covering 10 frames at the moment and there has been a good amount of expansion over the past week.

I really would like to go into the winter with 2 colonies to partly insure against losses.
I was considering making up a nuc (using a mated queen) from the above colony over the next couple of weeks.

Would you suggest doing so, or really getting this colony as big as possible to over winter? I’m also mindful of potential wasp issues.

Head says be cautious, heart says crack on and get a nucleus building up.

I’d be grateful for any thoughts!

Thanks, Tom

 

[Wilco]

If you do at this point, probably best split it into two strong nucs in nuc boxes and feed both to get numbers up. With a bit of luck and a decent bought in queen you could be able to get them both bog enough to be in hives for the winter although may be better served in poly nuc boxes depending on size.

 

[Beemum]

Based solely on my experience taking on a nuc last August, I'd stick with one strong hive. If there's not enough forage or the weather is unkind the colony may not get strong enough...but I'm way up north so circumstances could be very different where you are.