>
>All that to say that perhaps the best size mating nuc is the one that best fits your operation size and management scheme.
>

I agree. My “mini nucs are a deep divided Into four. Works well for me. I catch at 16 days after giving cell. I catch 128 every four days. Four groups of 128. Recatch group one 26 days later. I can unite them from four combs during queen mating season to 16 combs for winter. After winter we build them up on additional combs and split them down to the four way configuration with four combs each. I see no issues with the queens coming out of this system. So many with wood to wood patterns when on standard combs. Many of these queens will perform well for three and four years.

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