HONEY BEE
NUCLEUS HIVES
NUCS
BENEFITS OF NUCS
SWARM CONTROL
BEST DONE 4-6 WEEKS BEFORE NECTAR FLOW
REDUCES CONGESTION IN PRODUCTION HIVES
BENEFITS OF NUCS
STRENGTHEN PRODUCTION COLONIES
NUCS HAVE A STRONG TENDENCY TO SWARM
BEES AND BROOD CAN BE
REMOVED WEEKLY
BENEFITS OF NUCS
REQUEENING
USED FOR FAILING OR LOST QUEEN CONDITIONS
MAY TAKE 6 WEEKS TO DEVELOP NEW BEES
QUEENS FOR SALE MAY NOT BE OBTAINABLE
REPLACEMENT QUEENS ARE IMM IMMEDIATELY AVAILABLE
BENEFITS OF NUCS
STRENGTHEN WEAK COLONIES
RESOURCES FOR A WEAK COLONY
WEAK COLONY MAY BE TOO SMALL FOR A 10 FRAME
HIVE
SMALLER HIVE EASIER TO FEED AND MANAGE AND CAN BETTER DEFEND FROM WAX MOTHS
BENEFITS OF NUCS
EXPAND YOUR OPERATION
CHEAPER TO MAKE SPLITS THAN TO PURCHASE NUCS OR PACKAGES
$175
$145
BENEFITS OF NUCS
HIVE SWARMS
SMALLER AND EASIER TO HANDLE THAN 10 FRAME HIVE BODIES
BENEFITS OF NUCS
SELLING BEES
MAY PROVIDE MORE INCOME THAN HONEY PRODUCTION OR POLLINATION SERVICES
INCERASING NUMBERS OF NEW BEEKEEPERS RESULTS IN INCREASED DEMAND
SPECIAL MANAGEMENT CONSIDERATIONS FOR NUCS
IN REDUCING CONGESTION OR CONVERTING TO 10 FRAME HIVE
MANAGEMENT FREQUENCY
SUPPLEMENTAL FEEDING
PEST AND DISEASE CONTROL
CREATING A NUC BY SPLITING A FULL-SIZE COLONY
STRONG PARENT COLONY IS PREPARED
MAY REQUIRE SUPPLEMENTAL FEEDING IN ADVANCE
NEW QUEEN MAY BE PURCHASED IN ADVANCE
OR
ALLOWING ONE COLONY TO PRODUCE THEIR OWN QUEEN
REQUIRES UNCAPPED BROOD (EGGS AND YOUNG LARVAE), A LARGE NUMBER OF NURSE BEES, AND FOOD STORES OR SUPPLEMENTAL FEEDING
STEPS FOR CREATING A NUC
FIND THE FRAME WITH THE QUEEN AND SET IT ASIDE
MOVE ONE FRAME OF EGGS AND ONE FRAME OF CAPPED BROOD TO THE NUC BOX
CONSTRUCTION OPTIONS
LEAVING THE PARENT
COLONY STRONG
LEAVING THE PARENT
COLONY WEAK TO
MAKE A STRONG NUC
QUEEN OPTIONS
INSTALL A CAGED QUEEN
PLACE A FRAME OF EGGS, VERY YOUNG LARVAE, AND NUMEROUS NURSE BEES
COMPLETING THE SPLIT
REPLACE THE QUEEN INTO THE PARENT COLONY
MOVE THE NUC TO A DISTANT APIARY IF POSSIBLE
USING A NUC TO STRENGTHEN A COLONY
Remove empty frames, frames with eggs, frames containing only a little brood, or frames of honey/pollen from the brood nest of the production or weak colony
Shake these frames over the full-size colony's brood nest to dislodge the bees from those combs, thus shaking them back into their original colony.
Set the bee-free frames aside.
Enter a neighboring nuc and set aside the frame on which you find the queen. You do not want to put the queen into the production or weak colony accidently.
Go through the nuc looking for frames of bees and capped brood. You want capped brood because adult bees will emerge from this brood soon, quickly adding to the overall population of the production or weak colony into which you are adding the frame.
Place the frames of capped brood/bees (without the queen) collected from the nuc into the production colony.
Place the frames of capped brood/bees (without the queen) collected from the nuc into the production colony.
Place the frames originally set aside from the production or weak colony (frames of empty combs, broodless combs, combs with only young eggs/larvae etc.) into the space in the nuc formerly occupied by the combs moved to the production or weak colony.
Place the frames of capped brood/bees (without the queen) collected from the nuc into the production colony.
Place the frames originally set aside from the production or weak colony (frames of empty combs, broodless combs, combs with only young eggs/larvae etc.) into the space in the nuc formerly occupied by the combs moved to the production or weak colony.
There are times when nucs have little brood to donate to a production or weak colony. In this case, shake frames of bees, whatever the nuc can spare, from the nuc directly into the supers of the production or weak colony.
REQUEENING A PRODUCTION COLONY WITH A NUC
A queenless colony typically will have some frames of older brood (no queen present to lay eggs), frames of honey and pollen, and frames with some queen cells
Remove five frames from the queenless, full-size colony. At least one frame should contain queen cells if you intend for the nuc to requeen itself. Another frame should contain mostly honey/pollen as food for the new nuc.
Remove any queen cells that are left on the five frames remaining in the full-size colony. Most of these frames will contain older brood given that no queen is present to produce eggs.
Push all frames in the full-size colony to one side of the hive.
Move all five frames from the support nuc, including the frame containing the queen, into the space left in the queenless hive after removing the five frames
The five frames originally taken from the full-size hive can be moved into the newly empty nuc hive body. The bees in the nuc will be able to requeen themselves if the frames contain one or more queen cells, or you can purchase a queen from a queen breeder and use it to requeen the nuc.
HIVING A NUC
Set up an empty full-size hive body and remove the five centermost.
Transfer all of the frames from the nuc into the full-size hive.
Shake the remaining bees from the nuc into the full-size hive.
The 10-frame hive will be composed of five frames from the nuc and five additional frames, either foundation or pulled comb.
Feed the new hive until it becomes established or until a major nectar flow begins.