> If you want to optimize the egg laying rate of your queen, this data 
> indicates it is around 8 to 10 frames of bees and that 15 is too big.
>
> Randy's experience of a sizing nuc that is initially small to accept the 
> new queen but that will grow quickly with the emergence of the sealed 
> brood with new bees to the optimize size for the new queen's egg laying is 
> a good and perhaps optimum method.

That is what introduces an additional variable, the question of whether we 
are better to have one queen laying more or several queens laying less each, 
but longer, and totaling more.

Then there is the matter of what the bees in the nuc are doing during the 
queen introduction time or cell emergence and mating time and how many bees 
we wish to devote to that "dead time".  Some queen loss is also predictable 
in splits so how many bees do we want committed to what will turn out to be 
queenless colonies?

Since well-provisioned bees with little brood rearing to do may live longer, 
that complicates the question further.  In one case we are burning them out 
and in the other, conserving them.

The risk of loss due to weather or robbing in small nucs comes into it, too, 
otherwise the optimal size might be smaller than the risk-adjusted optimum 
we use.

Colony health is a factor, too.  Smaller colonies put more stress on the 
bees. 

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