Michael Palmer wished to know how to manage two queen colonies and how to overwinter a nuc. I can t provide any first-hand experience with two queen systems, but I overwinter a lot of nucs. Our temperature lows here are -20F or so, and perhaps -35F with wind chill. On average, I d say we get around two weeks where the nights reach these lows. If you are in an area where temperatures are much lower than this, I suggest wrapping in addition to the method that follows. I overwinter nucs by putting them on top of a regular hive. I remove the outer cover and the inner cover from the regular hive. I also make certain the regular hive has an upper entrance. I use an auger hole, but I know others who just prop up one end of the nuc about < . Be certain that by the end of October the nuc has at least 4 frames blocked out with either honey or sugar syrup. My nuc is in a regular deep and has a 3/8 solid bottom board. (As I recall, wood has an R factor of 2 for every inch of thickness.) I believe, but have not demonstrated, that the nuc gets some heat from the hive cluster below. I know of others who have their nuc in nuc box , that they put inside a deep and put that combination on top of a regular hive. I also know some who use an inner cover with the hole screened on both sides as the bottom of the nuc. As you can probably gather, there are a lot of beekeepers out there overwintering nucs on top of regular hives. I know of one beekeeper in Vermont who overwinters 400 nucs every year in this manner. He sells them in the spring. Lloyd [log in to unmask] Owner, Ross Rounds the finest in comb honey production.