>>...overwintering in poly nucs from Betterbee. Ten of eleven 
survive, and are into accelerating brood rearing.

I overwintered one queen in a wooden nuc.  I also saw few stores consumed and very vigorous bees.  I believe a sunny, sheltered location and wooden nucs are just fine.  And they stay cooler in the summer.  Foam nucs get very hot in our humid climate.

>>By the way, By "late-season" I mean mid August to early September. 

Raising queens in August or September is good by me, too.  There is still a decent flow (mostly from Japanese bamboo)and plentiful drones. 

>>have a great beekeeping year

We had a mild winter although the last few weeks had few good flying days.  The forecast for this week calls for good building-up weather with temps nearing 60's during the day.  I walked in the garden last night and smelled nectar from the hives.

Waldemar

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