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Disclaimer first: I haven't ever used double nucs to overwinter as Palmer does. I've overwinter nucs using conventional 5 over 5 nucs instead of the double nucs. Palmer is so far beyond that in volume that the 4 over 4 makes a lot of sense for equipment optimization. The small beekeeper who is overwintering two to half a dozen nucs can use regular five frame nucs in a 5x5 and just push them together and have better equipment utilization. The 4x4 leaves you with equipment that less flexible for the small beek even though its a huge advantage for large scale beeks who engage in queen production.
However I have modified 10 frame boxes with divider boards to make mating nucs, which is the same kind of division used for double nucs, so I'll try and describe the division board, and describe how I do a division board using a different joinery method. When using a 10 frame box as the bottom of a double nuc, the nuc is a 4x4 nuc, four frames for each side. The top boxes are just 8-1/8" wide so that is the reason why they are four frames. The partition in the bottom box can be 1/4" thick plywood if it is made to slide into a dado groove, but the top bar that closes off the frame rest needs to be wide enough for the top boxes to rest on and still close off the chambers on each side, 3/4" to 1-1/2" wide. The bottom board and entrances must also have a division board to keep the chambers isolated from the top floor all the way to the basement.
Instead of cutting a dado to slide a divider in I use pocket screws to secure dividers in place. Pocket screws have the advantage that I don't have to modify the box with a dado slot. By not cutting a dado slot I don't cut open the recessed handle. I can remove the divider later and the only thing left in the box is the screw holes. The thinnest divider board I can use for pocket screws is 1/2 inch plywood. Since the frame rest filler needs to minimum 3/4" wide then if you use pocket screws to secure the divider then you may as well make the divider from 3/4" wood and cut it as a single piece to go all the way to the top with the frame rest filler tabs included in the one piece. By making it out of the same material the hive body is made of it will expand and contract due to seasonal humidity with the rest of the wood and there won't be any small gaps opening up at the top of bottom edge for air to leak. The second story boxes of a 4x4 nuc are also four frame and they are made of 3/4" thick wood. They stack against each other with the inside walls resting on the top of the divider below so that the two chambers remain closed.
Do not overwinter with a queen excluder. The queen must be able to move up to the food stores with the cluster. An excluder will kill the colony, either the queen freezes or the cluster starves because it won't leave the trapped queen and her brood (most likely the latter). Two small colonies in nucs that have a shared wall loose 25% less heat since they have shared heated space on the opposite wall. They use less food to stay warm. The narrow vertical space means that the cluster can easily get to all the frames of food. But a large colony will quickly exhaust the limited food.
Double nucs are not intended to be a hive that produces honey. The way that using double nucs maximizes honey production is that the nuc keeps fresh late summer queens over winter so that come spring you have a mature mated new queen that is ready to lay eggs at maximum potential to raise a massive colony that will produce lots of honey. The colony is moved to a full size hive early in the spring. If it isn't moved it shifts into swarm mode and the honey production potential is lost.
First focus more on getting full strength colonies through winter before worrying about how to get late summer mated queens with small colonies through the winter. I've got two late summer mated queens (one Aug, one Sept) and they are both going to over winter in full size hives because I can. Save the wintering in nucs for small resource-limited colony overwintering when you've got a dozen to hundreds of new queens. Until then a standard nuc, or even a full sized hive with internal XPS insulation to decrease it to five frames wide, will probably meet small apiary nuc overwintering needs.
However I have modified 10 frame boxes with divider boards to make mating nucs, which is the same kind of division used for double nucs, so I'll try and describe the division board, and describe how I do a division board using a different joinery method. When using a 10 frame box as the bottom of a double nuc, the nuc is a 4x4 nuc, four frames for each side. The top boxes are just 8-1/8" wide so that is the reason why they are four frames. The partition in the bottom box can be 1/4" thick plywood if it is made to slide into a dado groove, but the top bar that closes off the frame rest needs to be wide enough for the top boxes to rest on and still close off the chambers on each side, 3/4" to 1-1/2" wide. The bottom board and entrances must also have a division board to keep the chambers isolated from the top floor all the way to the basement.
Instead of cutting a dado to slide a divider in I use pocket screws to secure dividers in place. Pocket screws have the advantage that I don't have to modify the box with a dado slot. By not cutting a dado slot I don't cut open the recessed handle. I can remove the divider later and the only thing left in the box is the screw holes. The thinnest divider board I can use for pocket screws is 1/2 inch plywood. Since the frame rest filler needs to minimum 3/4" wide then if you use pocket screws to secure the divider then you may as well make the divider from 3/4" wood and cut it as a single piece to go all the way to the top with the frame rest filler tabs included in the one piece. By making it out of the same material the hive body is made of it will expand and contract due to seasonal humidity with the rest of the wood and there won't be any small gaps opening up at the top of bottom edge for air to leak. The second story boxes of a 4x4 nuc are also four frame and they are made of 3/4" thick wood. They stack against each other with the inside walls resting on the top of the divider below so that the two chambers remain closed.
Do not overwinter with a queen excluder. The queen must be able to move up to the food stores with the cluster. An excluder will kill the colony, either the queen freezes or the cluster starves because it won't leave the trapped queen and her brood (most likely the latter). Two small colonies in nucs that have a shared wall loose 25% less heat since they have shared heated space on the opposite wall. They use less food to stay warm. The narrow vertical space means that the cluster can easily get to all the frames of food. But a large colony will quickly exhaust the limited food.
Double nucs are not intended to be a hive that produces honey. The way that using double nucs maximizes honey production is that the nuc keeps fresh late summer queens over winter so that come spring you have a mature mated new queen that is ready to lay eggs at maximum potential to raise a massive colony that will produce lots of honey. The colony is moved to a full size hive early in the spring. If it isn't moved it shifts into swarm mode and the honey production potential is lost.
First focus more on getting full strength colonies through winter before worrying about how to get late summer mated queens with small colonies through the winter. I've got two late summer mated queens (one Aug, one Sept) and they are both going to over winter in full size hives because I can. Save the wintering in nucs for small resource-limited colony overwintering when you've got a dozen to hundreds of new queens. Until then a standard nuc, or even a full sized hive with internal XPS insulation to decrease it to five frames wide, will probably meet small apiary nuc overwintering needs.