Hello Aaron & All,
The old master of three -deep brood nests was Dr. Basil Furgala.

Outlined in a booklet from Marla Spivak published by the University of
Minnesota Extension Service is his plan.
"Beekeeping in Northern Climates"
The book also lists Dr. Marla Spivak & Gary Reuter as co-authors( below
Furgala).

I set up some test hives exactly like the book said right after the book was
published.(2000) and the bees wintered excellent and came out of winter
strong.

I did change the way the book said the next year and ran the overwintered
hive in two deeps for honey production and ran a split with a new queen. In
fall I combined the three back together with the *new queen on top* of the
old hive and old queen. In a second hive I killed the old queen. Both
wintered and both had the new marked queens in spring.

In the book they say to build the new split up into three hive bodies
during the summer to overwinter  and then depopulate the old hive.

Rather than depopulate you could increase numbers as I believe a queen
should last two years if you do not mind a *few* queenless colonies, drone
layers and laying workers in the second year. Not a big deal for the hobby
beekeeper but each unit which drops from production during the
honey/pollination season cuts productivity.

If *not going to almonds* losses in fall & winter ( after honey season) only
create the necessary boxes for starting new hives in spring. I figure each
overwintered hive should yield one split in Missouri & two in Texas.

50% loss in Missouri = back to previous numbers
67%  "     rebuild in Texas  =  back to previous numbers

if you take strong hives to winter in Texas and they come out of Texas
winter strong even a greater number of splits can be made.

When you limp into California in November with "dinks" its hard to rebuild.
The bees are reluctant to brood up until after Dec. 23rd. when the days
start to get longer which is the clue the bees are looking for.

In Texas late fall flows are the norm. Bees brood then when they would be in
a cluster up north. When you pull the nets in November in Texas the pollen
starts coming in bringing the colony back to life. Within an hour you see
the full pollen baskets coming in!

bob






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