> In my area, a 5-frame nuc, with 3 frames of brood and a new queen on April 1 will easily make 10 frames by late May.  So I look at my window of opportunity as being 6 weeks.  I make 5-frame nucs with queens that are in full lay by April 1, 6-frame nucs if a week later, 7-frame if a week later, and so forth.

Your timing seems surprisingly precise.  I have been frustrated in my spring management by the variability of weather in my area.  Timing that works one year is a disaster the next.  If your rules of thumb were translated to Growing Degree Days, do you have any sense of what those thresholds would be?

Mike Rossander    

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