I actually have success by doing this slightly differently. I take the honey crop off late August and then make loads of splits with new mated queens. The winter losses are very low and I set a few aside to sell (April/May) and then the others I pop into a full size hive to become a production hives. Then we do it all over again, seems to work quite well and turn a small profit from a ‘hobby’. Great when the bees can pay towards their expensive up-keep 😉