I'm picking up a 5 frame nuc this weekend from a fellow club member who is experimenting in queen rearing. He said this would only be suitable for combining with another colony or using the new queen to requeen an established colony as there is not enough time for it to build up enough stores to successfully overwinter here. I wanted this as a nuc, not something to combine. I have newer queens in my other two colonies and don't want to remove any of them.
I know people do overwinter nucs here and a lot further north. Cold shouldn't be an issue if done correctly.
I did a quick search, but only found info for much further south.
Any thoughts on overwintering this as a nuc?
It's certainly possible. Michael Palmer(in VT) runs his entire operation based on overwintered nucs for making new hives or replacing lost one. I'm hoping to start using his system or something similar next year with my hives.
Do a search for Mountain Camp Method
It's a way people are over wintering nucs and seems easy enough.
remove lid, add empty box, put newspaper in over top bars of frames in bottom box, cut to 1/4" from edges, add 5 - 10lb bag of sugar, add lid on top. The sugar is feed and absorbs moisture so serves dual purpose.
I've been overwintering nucs for a few years now and have found polystyrene nucs to work the best for me.
http://forum.beemaster.com/index.php/topic,23819.msg184766.html#msg184766
Thanks for the replies. This certainly seems possible. I just need to figure out how to position the hives and nuc.
I've built a stand to hold my two full sized hives and my thought was to push them together and wrap both in tarpaper and also provide some type of barrier for wind. The best summer location in my yard, unfortunately, has a lot of western exposure and can get a lot of wind. Now I need to decide where to place the nuc. I know some place the nucs on top of full sized colonies to take advantage of the heat from below, but I don't think that's a good idea here. Thoughts?