My friend had a 50% loss. 3 of 6 hives. Heads in the cell, butts sticking out.
Starvation was the culprit
You only have one hive. Wouldn’t it be safer to experiment once you have the five you are aiming for? Have you sugar rolled or alcohol washed to find out what your mite level is? The answer you want from beeweaver is to guarantee you a new colony if yours succumbs to varroa if you don’t treat.
Have a look at beesource.com. If you do a search for beeweaver queens you will get lots of useful information. There is one particular thread where a chap is comparing his queens with beeweaver and carpenter and another titled " what can beekeepers realistically expect with VSH queens" really useful reading. Personally I wouldn’t risk my only colony
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When I had the high losses I thought it was starvation because of the head in cell assumption. What happens is the mites cause colony dwindle and the bees then can’t collectively move to honey that is inches away without freezing so they die in place looking for food, with their heads in the cells.
They also huddle head down in cells to keep warm
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Sounds like one of those Japanese cubicle hotels! 
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All other things being equal it is not my experience that ‘professional’ equals ‘competent’ in many cases.
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I once stayed in a Pod hotel at Gatwick but heavens, I don’t think I could manage a claustrophobic Japanese one. I would be like sleeping on the top bunk in a camper van!
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You’ll be fine. Take care of the mites in July/August, check for the October-November mite resurgence and make sure the bees are in contact with honey or fondant/candy. I check food monthly in Nov, Dec, Jan, and every 2 weeks if possible after Ground Hogs Day until honey supers go on.
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It is a real risk in SoCal even now - drought = nectar dearth for much of the year… 
Personally I have never lost a hive (7 hives in total). However, I keep bees in Australia, and also had lots of great advice from my local club (Beekeepers Association of the ACT).
This autumn has been pretty brutal around here, a lot of hives in dearth conditions and eating into their stores. I expect to be feeding through winter.