Is it going to get strong enough to split no matter where you place them?.. Will the splits get big enough to over winter?
I've seen many people that have started their packages in a 5 frame NUC. If you do so, it helps them keep the heat in so that they can draw comb faster. They will build up pretty quickly as well since it acts more like a tree cavity than say an 8 or 10 frame hive. If you plan to split them, just remember that they need to cover all the frames with bees during the day while the foragers are out. This gives you the right number of bees in your split to manage it good. Check out The Fat Beeman on youtube. All he runs is 5 frame NUC's for the most part.what would the benefits be to starting a package in a stackable 5 frame nuc v.s. a 10 frame deep lang? the spring flow is just starting but my main goal for this year is to not have to buy bees for next. Could i just get this package going in the nuc and keep splitting it as they build?