With a nice strong hive, I make up 3 Nucs as follows:
1: Find the queen and put her in a Nuc with 3 frames of brood and one frame of stores (Nuc 1).
2: Find 3 frames with eggs/1day old larvae and notch several spots on each frame using the OTS Method. I mark the 3 frames 'Q" with a felt pen and put them in the middle of the brood nest.
3: After 3 days I check that I have Queen cells.
4: 11 days after notching I make up 2 more Nucs with the ripe queen cells and leave one in the parent colony (Nucs 2,3).
This makes 4 colonies from one, but also leaves the parent colony depleted to the point where it's almost Nuc size. Because our main Honey flow is in July/August, this laves the colonies enough time to grow and still bring in a great harvest.
The way I see it, this method has the following advantages: The queen cells are reared under optimal conditions in a large hive. The main hive and Nucs 2 and 3 get a brood cycle interruption to reduce mite levels. Nuc 1 has a proven 1 year old queen and is ready to sell early in the season. This method is used with the strongest hives and therefore perpetuates good genetics. Swarming is completely eliminated
The disadvantages are these: No spring honey is produced. There is no room for error in timing. If the Queen cells are left in a couple of days too long, only one will survive. Nucs 2 and 3 get only capped brood, because no new eggs have been laid for a while. This means plenty of nurse age bees when the queen starts laying, but there is a bit of a demographic gap later.
