I know that some people use the NUC's like you speak of to actually make honey. They stay pretty strong and can put it up well. The stack tends to get quite large though. As for wintering, i've only seen 5,5,5 stack for wintering. After that they tend to break them down and use them for brood for other NUC's or cell builders, etc.
Putting them into a double deep once they have filled out a 5,5,5 is diff for them as they cannot hold the heat in as well during the winter. Some pple have actually gone from 10 frame back to 8 for wintering for that reason alone or even back to NUC's. All in all it's a personal choice.
I myself plan to winter over colonies in double deep 8 frame equip as well as 5,5,5 NUC's. I know in the spring that NUC's seem to build up pretty dang fast compared to any other, partially due to the fact that they retain the heat so well. That's my primary reason for overwintering 20 colonies that way.
Putting them into a double deep once they have filled out a 5,5,5 is diff for them as they cannot hold the heat in as well during the winter. Some pple have actually gone from 10 frame back to 8 for wintering for that reason alone or even back to NUC's. All in all it's a personal choice.
I myself plan to winter over colonies in double deep 8 frame equip as well as 5,5,5 NUC's. I know in the spring that NUC's seem to build up pretty dang fast compared to any other, partially due to the fact that they retain the heat so well. That's my primary reason for overwintering 20 colonies that way.