Honeysuckle Nectary Nuc Colonies
A Nuc,
which is short for Nucleus Colony, is basically a complete starter package for any beekeeper or anyone looking to try their hand at keeping honeybees. Unlike packages which are just a box full of bees with a queen, a nuc will have an already established colony with frames of drawn out comb and an accepted laying queen.
What a nuc includes differs from beepeeker to beekeeper.
It can be a deep or medium nuc, meaning it uses deep or medium frames, depending on what equipment you are using this is important because you want the frames to fit. Sometimes nucs can have a different amount of frames. They can have 3, 4, or 5 frames depending on what the beekeeper sells. Of these frames should include frames of brood(eggs/larvae/capped brood), frames of food(honey/pollen), and a mated laying queen.
Some nucs are sold without their own box and require you to bring your own equipment to transfer into on site, while others have you drop off your equipment and pick up at a later date. Some places also have you bring empty frames to replace the ones you are taking with the bees. These options work but we think the best method, which is what we do, is to have your nuc in a box sealed and ready to go when you are picking it up. We call it our “grab and go” method and we believe it is the most convenient way to move the bees, there is no exchange of equipment, just pick up your box and be on your way.
An important benefit of the “grab and go” method is it is much easier on the bees themselves. One of our highest priorities is the health and wellbeing of the bees and this practice of moving bees ensures the best treatment.
Our nucleus colonies are 5 deep frame nucs.
Of the 5 frames at least 3 are brood and 2 are food. We make sure they have a solid population as well as a quality queen. We always make sure our queens are proven to be good layers. No shortcuts are taken. When we get our queens early in the spring it is important that they are given time to establish themselves in their colony and prove themselves to be well mated. This process requires monitoring and time. We do not sacrifice quality for time, this is proven to us every year when we have a few drone layers and queens that are superseded by the nuc colony. A failed queen is a setback and one of the biggest causes of colony failure, especially for new beekeepers.
One of the things our customers pay for is confidence in knowing these colonies have been building up and the queens have proven their quality over time.
Another thing we offer as a bonus to our customers is our support and expertise. We do our best to help with advice to those who have questions about any situation they run into. We have also started a group on facebook that is available to our nuc customers, by invitation only, where we would like to build a community to have conversations and answer questions. We hope this grows into a useful tool with a library of information for those looking to succeed and grow in their beekeeping experience.
