Been a Frustrating Year So Far

[TheHoneyPump]

3 frames of brood with bees with a frame of field bees shaken into a 5 frame nuc makes a good start.
One frame of honey and one empty frame make up the 5.
Most of the time we let them make their own queen.

IMHO That would bee far too many bees in a 5er. 1 frame of brood makes 2 to 3 frames of walking bees. That 3 frames of brood+ bees+ another shake is going to yield 12-14 frames of bees. A 5 frame box will not hold 14 frames of bees. Sure they will make multiple cells, but likely much of it would abscond or multi-cast mini swarms before there is a laying queen left behind in the box.

A nice 5 framer is 1 full capped brood frame in the centre. Sided by 1 foundation and 1 empty drawn comb. The 2 outer frames 1/2 full of mixed resources (honey/pollen).  2 maybe 3 frames of shook bees to populate it. And topped it off with one ripe queen cell on the empty drawn frame.

[van from Arkansas]

OldBeavo and HP.  I like both and have made both types of nucs.  I only have a single bee yard, HP.  The problem I occur is foragers returning to orginal hive and subsequently robbing the nuc.

I understand there are many ways to create a nuc such as splitting and relocating all bees so there is no original hive to return to.  Being a hobbyist my biggest problem is limiting the number of hives in my apiary.

Current problem:  15 queens hatching Sunday 6/9 and I have to make queen castles for open breeding 8 queens and instrumentally inseminate[II]  7, at least try to II 7.  I have to catch over 100 drones, specific light colored Cordovan drones that have desired genetics.  The problem with drones is the little rascals scatter so trapping by use of a queen excluder from a single hive does not work so well. Oliec acid, queen pheromone only works on a DCA in flight.

[attachment=0][/attachment]

[Oldbeavo]

Honeypump ,all I can say is "it works" without the problems predicted. They don't swarm. The new nucs are moved from the old hives so as bees don't return.
Most of these nucs are in 8 frame boxes in 6-8 weeks and go on from there.
Our 4 frame nucs are made with 2 frames of brood, this is not only me as a big time BK makes his nucs the same way without problems.
Your logic is fine, but try some as they are successful in OZ.

[Beeboy01]

I'm making 4 frame nucs, why? because my nuc boxes are deeps cut in half  and are just a little short of a full 5 frame nuc. Learned it the hard way when I cut a couple deeps in half and couldn't fit 5 frames in the nuc box. LOL measure twice check again and cut once. ;)

[Acebird]

I would have left the 4 frame boxes oversize.  If you go two and three stories you can spread out the top boxes to get wider honey frames.  Just use a spacer in the bottom brood boxes.

[Beeboy01]

Ace, I left the boxes oversized, didn't cut them down. They are just wide enough to fit on a regular 5 frame nuc box but only hold 4 frames which works just fine. The extra space gives enough room to pull an outside frame without rolling any bees.

[saltybluegrass]

Beeboy
I saw a nuc video where the experienced beekeeper said he leaves 6-9 inches under his frames in the nuc as new bees like ?roaming? room - just saying

[ed/La.]

Have you tried protection like pots or coffee containers of cooking oil under the stand legs? They help if you keep the ground beneath them  fairly low cut. They are a fair amount of maintainece  to keep clean so they work. An oversized lid a few inches above helps.

[Beeboy01]

I'm using 4x4 wood frames sitting on cinder blocks for my hive stands and can't easily convert over to another style that keeps ants out. If I was setting up an ant proof stand I would go with short pieces of PVC tubing mounted in drilled holes with cut up plastic water bottles over the PVC as ant protectors. 
   
   Just called the beekeeper whom I'm making the nucs for. Seems he has been out of work for a while and now has a job offer about 80 miles away. He said he won't have time for the bees and wants me to keep the nucs. Hate to see a new bee keeper lose interest after only a year, told him that anytime he wants any honey give me a call which is the least I can do.

     Need to move one of the nucs over to a deep this week and re- arrange the yard a little also deal with the laying worker nuc. Guess things are looking a little better, the Cabbage Palms are just starting and should get a good crop off them if all works right.