So as I was starting this post on work, my wife said "Is this supposed to be happening?" from outside the house. A small swarm was airborne and settled in a nearby dogwood about 15 feet off the ground. So 2 hours later I have them in a box, as well as some other bee work. Whew!
I have a bunch of Jester nucs set up with 1-2 frames with some capped brood and enough nurse bees to tend it. Each has a virgin queen from the last 3-4 days. With constant feed how many frames could they draw out and fill by winter? I have hives I can equalize from, but these have already been used for the frames mentioned. I have coated plastic foundation/wood frame blanks in the nucs.
Hope this makes sense. Right now my gut is telling me that having 10-15 laying queens on a couple of frames each in late June will just result in combining back before winter. i.e. a ton of extra work, but nothing you could drop in a wood box and winter in TN. Thanks!