The brood patterns in three of the nucs were great.  The brood patterns in
the packages were "shotgun" in one case and nonexistent in the other,
because the queen failed and I had to replace her.


Ahh  interesting note!

BUT!!!!!   You missed an opportunity!  What were the weather conditions and
hive setups for the packages?  Any correction for cool and rainy?
A package with no pollen stores and poor feed coming in is going to have a
LOT of spotty brood as larva dies and is removed.


When you start with a nuc,  you start with a balanced hive!  You cannot
compare the two at this stage of the game and make any educated claims!
Corrections must be accounted!

I here get to make a lot of packages, and yes of course since they are mine
I know the conditions in which they are stored.  To that end I am thinking
next year to make packages for myself INSTEAD of nuc splits.  Packages
always seem to grow faster and stronger than 5 frame splits. In fact I do
about 25 comb honey supers a year,  and all are packages started in April.

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