Nucleus Colonies
Nucleus colonies
All our nucleus colonies consist of a total of 5 deep frames — 3-4 frames of brood in all stages and 1-2 frames of honey and pollen. Complete with a queen, brood, and bees; these nucs come in Pro-nuc shipping boxes which are yours to keep.
Over-wintered Nucleus Colonies
As part of our focus on Sustainability in our apiary we primarily produce Over-wintered (OW) nucs for sale. These 5-frame deep Nucleus Colonies are a complete unit ready to set into your woodenware and are a great option for early replacement of dead-out hives since they build up best on drawn comb.
Over-wintered nucs come with several advantages. . .
- Headed by a proven queen. Since these colonies are created the summer before, they have already survived one winter and are geared for exponential growth and honey production when you pick them up. *
- Super-easy installation. These nucs come in a state-of-the-art plastic shipping box complete with ventilation and feeding ports so that you can install them in your equipment at your convenience. Installation is literally as easy as setting the frames into your boxes.**
- Worry-free start-up . Contrary to the susceptibility of package bees, nucleus colonies aren’t fazed by a stretch of winter weather in April. Since they come with at least 1 frame of honey and pollen you can rest easy even when Winter makes a come-back in early Spring.
- Early availability. While most local nucs and packages are not available until weeks after those shipped from down south, we consistently have over-wintered nucs ready to go on nearly the same schedule as southern producers – usually early to mid-April.
Spring nucs
We produce a limited number of Spring nucs as well. These are basically the same as the OW nucs except that they are made up in the spring with the first local queens we raise. Spring nucs also tend to be easier to manage in the first few weeks as compared to over-wintered nucs since they are at a different place in the growth curve making them less apt to swarm. Because we must wait to produce these nucs until local queens are available, Spring nucs are usually not ready for sale until Mid-May.
*Please note: Over-wintered nucs are not recommended for first-time beekeepers except for the very motivated. For ‘Newbees’ we recommend the Spring nucs which are available after the erratic temperature swings of early Spring.
**For a local supplier of all woodenware and beekeeping supplies, we recommend Forest Hill Woodworking in Paradise, PA.
