page 2
http://www.wicwas.com/sites/default/files/articles/American_Bee_Journal/ABJ2010-07.pdf
yes and no... a foam mini takes 600 bees to stock, a 60% frame of brood and cover bees is about 6,000 bees(once emerged)
By cardboard I mean these:
I kept up to 4-5 full frame nucs in computer boxes - no problem.
Bees will chew the paper - a myth - this only means you have it configured wrong OR it is really the time to upgrade equipment.
They don't chew paper indiscriminately. I tested.
A totally viable solution as 2-3 month temp unit.
For sure 2-3 weeks.
A single frame in a cardboard - a very cozy environment and makes it for "set-it-and-forget-it".
This is an auxiliary, cheap mating unit (in addition to the regular splits which also try to mate queens, but in a more expensive way).
A fail-over option.
I simply drop a frame with a QC attached to it (painter's tape works great - really a versatile hack - totally overlooked).
Give it 1-2 good shakes of bees, with the understanding that some will fly away.
It does not need to be a brood frame at all - honey/syrup/pollen frame is sufficient (!!!from the storage!!! - not even from a resource hive).
No resources to burn - to just trying to mate a queen.
Can just feed the non-foraging bees that will stay with the QC and the virgin until some result (positive or negative).
C&S harvest outputs are great for this - I save them just as feed - bees love to pick through the honey/pollen/wax mix.
Looking forward - I will be actually making some patties out of the C&S output and freezing them for later user (just like this).
Compress the volume around the frame using cardboard - to the very minimum space just around a single frame - done.
Paper multi-layer sandwich is a great material to hold a very small unit on a single standard frame.
No custom equipment - no time/resource spent on that.
The cardboard is free (I got a garage full of them - too many).
No rigging/scaffolding is even needed (I have done these - an overkill) - just stand the single frame in the box - it will just stand as-is - zero time on customization and stuff.
The only time find/save boxes that sort of match the frame - just close enough - cut a entrance - 10 second job.
The reduced volume to the max.
Few hundred bees in a compressed volume with enough stores/feeding to support the 2-3 weeks and a QC.
That is my idea of a mating nuc on a cheap.
Up to 10-20 queens for personal use - should work fine.
It really should be this stupid simple.
Seriously - there only marginal expense - your time; the actual $$$ spent - about zero.
I think the small scale homesteaders are watching the industrial queen production too much (and get too many wrong ideas implanted).
PS: the cardboard hold very well outside when protected from balk water;
kind of like this - cardboard box mating station (will try exactly this setup next year; this year I just did not plan ahead).