hardware needs ???

So - now that I've decided that I want to do some splits, I need to determine several things -

1. What will i be using in hardware equipment? 

I've come up with a pretty good idea of using a 4-frame nuc box.  I've developed the idea of using this type of nuc because I can 'stack' 2 right on top of a single 10-frame box (side-by-side)  for either 'walk-away' splits, because the easly stack side by side - overwintering some nucs shouldn't bee to hard for the 'boxes' to share heat for the winter, and I don't know that I actually need "5-frame" nuc boxes for what I'm doing.  This might not work in the long run, but we'll see as time goes on...

As I have 4 nuc's now and 4 deeps I'm probably ok to attempt this now and see how well it goes. I've borrowed a cloake board from a friend for now, but will probably have to get one on my own as I'm unsure if I can build one for what one costs -

I'll need some queen cups and a grafting tool.  This is so I can 'quickly' create the enviroment that I want with new queens, and not loose too much time.  [time to hatch, 16-days ..queen is bred in another, say 3 days - laying time to confirm good queen - 2 to 3 weeks --- 1 month gone]


2. how many 'boxes' will i need now - what happens if it works, and then later?

Thearetically - I'll need the following:
1 nuc box and a 1 deep per box that i want to create + allot of bees to propagate a single hive. 
Do I have this now - not sure till I get started to see what actually happens.  Funny thing, there isn't really any published information on 'how you actually do this' out there as I've tried to find it - and it seems to be a 'secret' for some reason.

In reality as i theorise more about this situation, I'll need not only allot of bees to start with, but a really strong hive or 2 so that i can keep moving/swapping out frames of 'nurse' bees into the nucs to feed the queens and try and keep the worker bee population down to a minimum so that they don't want to swarm on me.


3. what will i do to over-winter, if this works out now?

Over-wintering I think that I can accomplish this with the side-by-side 4-frame nucs.  I'll also need some type of feeding ability for them so i won't be able to stack too many high.  I can also double-stack the 4-frame nucs, thereby creating a 'tall' 8-frame box and feed that way so that i can maintain my structures and feed - if needed.  I'll also need another place in the yard so there's some potential work there and how many do i actually want to 'winter-hive' - and how many hives do i actually want to keep???

4. what will i need to have 'on-hand' and for the future should I want to either maintain my own stock, or sell some nucs/queens in the future?

Obsivesly I'll need to have and/or have ready about 4 to 6 nuc boxes to start.  Simple math seems to dictate the following:  1 setup = 1 to 2 nucs and 1 deep .. probably at a minimum. 

5. what else am i forgetting?

6. how much will all this cost in material -  and time ??????  Will i build my own stuff, from others' plans, creatively engineer myself - or just buy?

I need to find more 'free' stock material.  I'm pretty efficient now with building my own w/o alot of waste - but having more 'free' stock will certainly reduce my costs.  I think that if i 'troll' some construction sites i can pick up some more 'parts' but don't really have a good storage place for 'allot' of equipment or parts now.  The wife's wanting me to build or get a garage/shop so maybe I'll look into this.  We really need this now anyway, but there's 'some' support from her in all this and am always appreciative for the support - just need to thank her more for it !!!   I need to engineer some screened bottom boards for my nucs now - but that shouldnt be too hard.

the next step in my evolutionary trials ...

I've decided to also try my hand at some grafting and creating some 'natural' splits.  I need to do this for several reasons - Life cycle learning of the bees - for my own continued search of knowledge about these special creatures, propagation of the species, before it's not too late in the year, and if I can - why not ?? 

Here's some listings or other thoughts of why I need to start now (mid june timeframe)  -

 - The bees have time to 'rebound' and get started for winter
 - If I have to feed (I will I know, as there's no "flow" going on now) then the bees will/should have   enough time to get settled in good for the winter.
 -  If I'm not successful in my 'trials' then I'll have time to combine them back together and hopefully not loose too many.
 - "normally" this type of thing is done in the early spring or whenever there's a good 'flow' going on - but you gotta start some time and this might be quite a good experience for me.
 - I should have enough time for these bees to estabish themselvess and "IF" I have to overwinter some nucs this year I'll know how to do it.
 - I've gotten the notion that I'd like to create several nucs and possibly sell them every year, but most importantly that I have enough 'stock' to be able to perpectuate the good stock I believe I currently have, so that if I have a 'bad' year - I don't end up loosing this stock - or have a 'catostrophic' loss to my apiary.