> > you winter nuc's. top of production colonies. >Just for clarity, what do you mean by "on top"? Peter The two 4 frame nucs are in a box with a solid bottom board. The whole unit sits on the inner cover of another colony for winter. > > >For you a tough winter consists of what type of climatic conditions, Peter I'm in northern Vermont, 12 miles from the Canada border. We have very cold snowy winters, with 4 to 5 months without bee flight. > >why do you say that 50% is a low loss rate? > Peter Sorry, I said that wrong. I meant that 50% survival rate was actually a low rate. This winter I had a survival rate of 80%. 20% were weak...less than 2 frames of brood at the end of April. These I let build up on 8 frames by moving the feeder to the sidewall. I just split them up. From the 50 or so weak nucs, I made 125 new nucs that will be wintered. Mike