Beekeeping in the South is way different than the North. Most important is that the bees are active all winter long and will consume syrup any day the temps get near 50°. Since the temps rarely dip into the single digits (where I am) insulation and quilt boxes are not needed. I do put a piece of foam board inside the telescoping top but that is it. In Richmond, I am broodless for just about 2 months with my carni/caucasian bees. Brooding stops by the end of October and starts back up in early January. This is something to consider when raising nucs. As Dan pointed out, a nuc can starve out practically overnight once brood rearing begins. I put pollen sub patties in the hives when I do my Christmas OAV treatment. Also give them a second sugar brick for those cold spells we seem to get late Jan. into Feb. Use a pollen sub feeder and have UltraBee or similar powder available. My bees tore through about 10# of sub during the winter. Any day warm enought to fly had bees in the feeder
My nuc setup is a SBB with plastic insert, deep nuc body,.3/4" feeding shim w/ upper entrance, inner cover with screen over hole to support pint mason jar, medium super to cover, and then the telescoping top with 1/2" foam insert. A few of my hives that I need to split have two mediums over a deep, so I will be making a few double medium nucs also this year.