I have been making up 3-frame nucleii in the following way:  As
early in the spring as possible, produce or buy as many queen cells as you
need. When the cells are ripe, select strong overwintered colonies and use
their frames with adhering bees to fill as many 3 frame nucleus boxes as
you need. Use one frame of brood, one frame of pollen and one frame of
honey in each nucleus box. Make no effort to find the queen ( my attempts
to find her almost always fail anyway ).
         Put a ripe queen cell in each nuc, give each of them a quart of
syrup with fumadil and terramycin and check then in a week.  The one which
contained the queen will be jammed with eggs at this time and can be put
into a regular box. Nucs whose queen cells have not hatched can be put in
with her. The others will normally start laying in the second week and can
be used to requeen poor hives or put in a regular brood chamber and
boosted with sealed brood from stronger hives.
        This method produces about 6 splits per overwintered hive and does
not involve disorganizing the other hives in the earliest part of the
season when they are starting to build up from the winter.  Taking sealed
brood from the stronger hives and replacing it with foundation later in
the season seems to cut down swarming as well.
 
Donald Aitken
11710-129 Street
Edmonton Alberta
Canada T5M 0Y7