Jon, why not just use the doulble up system with the old apideas that have raised 2 or 3+ queens sold and put a final queen cell in them in the autumn about 2-3 weeks before the drones are due to be kicked out, instead of uniting the bees from the apideas in the autumn. They will have a supply of fresh young workers suitable for overwintering. Of the 100 or so apideas even if 50% are mated and survive this will give you an early supply of queens for sale in the spring and the only extra cost would be feeding.
Even 4 strong apideas could be united to give a viable colony for overwintering in a 2-3 frame standard nuc box
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