Most new beekeepers now start with a nucleus colony, or nuc, of bees. A nuc is essentially a small hive in a specially designed smaller box. A nuc of bees will consist of bees in all stages of development, as well as food, a laying queen and enough workers to cover from three to five combs or frames. When placed into a full-sized hive body and given some supplemental feeding, the nuc will usually expand rapidly into a strong colony, depending of course on the time of year.
When started in early spring, these hives may produce surplus honey in their first year if the weather is favourable and nectar flow conditions are right. The advantages of starting with a nuc rather than a package includes faster colony development due to the presence of brood and the fact that there is no break in the queen’s laying cycle. It is also easy to add the contents of the nuc straight into your own equipment. In addition you will also have the chance to inspect the nuc before purchasing it and since you are likely to be purchasing and collecting the nuc locally, you will be sure that you are buying bees which are adapted to the local conditions. However make sure that you purchase your nuc of bees from a supplier at least three miles from where you intend to keep them, otherwise you may find that a large number of them may fly back to their original site.
While nucleus colonies are initially more expensive than packages, their potential financial returns at the season’s end more than makes up for the increased purchase price. The biggest disadvantage however in purchasing a nuc is the potential of disease and mite transmission. Inspection and certification of nucs for sale is not required and depending on how they were handled before sale, disease may occur among some nucleus colonies after they are purchased. Therefore you should only purchase nucs from reputable beekeepers. Check with your local or state beekeeping association to identify beekeepers that have a good reputation for producing high-quality, disease-free nucs.
The strength of nucs varies a great deal from source to source based partly on number of frames, bee stock, and environmental conditions during the time the nuc was made up. One beekeeper may provide one frame of brood in a five-frame nuc box, while another will provide five. Before purchasing nucs, be sure the price reflects the strength of the nucleus colony.
Installing a Nuc of Bees into your Hives
Before ordering, check that the frames in the nucleus hive are compatible with your hive. You should receive instructions with your bees which should include the following:
On receipt of your nucleus colony you should position the box and most importantly, the entrance exactly where you wish your hive to be. Next remove the entrance block and allow the bees to fly freely and orientate themselves. After a day move the nucleus to one side and move your hive with the entrance positioned to as near as possible to where the nucleus was, as the bees have orientated themselves to find it there. Open your hive up, then carefully remove the frames from the nucleus, ensuring the queen is present and place into the brood box of your hive. Add some more empty frames with foundation to fill up the brood box. Check on how much honey stores are on the frames you received and feed accordingly. You should check the hive after a couple of days to ensure that the bees are drawing out the new foundation and the queen has started laying.
More Information on Acquiring and Installing New Bees
