Nucleus Hives

Here we are getting a yard of double deep hives ready to make into five frame nucs.

Do we sell package bees?

No, but we do sell nucleus hives. In the last few years we have begun to produce and sell five frame nucleus hives in cardboard boxes.  We have found this much more convenient for beekeepers as well as for ourselves.  Because they are easy to handle, light weight, easy to transport and disposable.  So that beekeepers purchasing the nucs do not have to worry about frame exchange or returning boxes to us. 

How do nucs compare to package bees?

They say a picture is worth a thousand words.... as you can see you get  frames of bees, brood (of all ages), with  pollen, honey, and an established queen as opposed to a queen in a cage that may or may not have come from that same operation. (we raise all of our own queens in nucs that are very similar to the ones you are purchasing)  

   In our nucleus hives we endeavor to have at least three full frames of brood, a nice frame of honey and a fifth frame that is light honey, brood or pollen.   You can expect to begin to  make a nice crop of honey with a nucleus hive almost immediately.

To the right a nice frame of brood ready to finish a nuc.

Below is a frame of pollen being taken out of one of our double deep box's. It will be brought back to the cell yard to be used in a cell builder.

 As many advantages as there are to having  nucleus hives as opposed to packages there are of course a couple of downfalls ; one of which is you cannot ship them, (but we are willing to make stops along our route to Wisconsin, in the spring) . another thing that you  as a beekeeper have to look out for is that the nucs your buying are from a reputable beekeeper who will not sell you something that is sick or weak. As we said earlier  all of our nucs are produced with at least three frames of brood and a new queen. we also treat all our bees  for nosema, mites and foul brood (to learn more about our treatment  click here ), so you can be sure that you will be getting a strong healthy nuc.

This is a picture of the truck as it is being loaded with nucs for the trip north for deliveries in Illinois and Wisconsin.

This is a picture of us making up five frame nucs out of double deeps. when we are finished we leave the old queen behind in the parent single. We can make up two and sometimes three nice five frame nucs out of this configuration, by mid march.

Pricing this year for Nucs will be $80 each, that includes those that are going to Wisconsin. For beekeepers who are interested in picking up nucs here in Florida they will be available late-March thru May.

   We are no longer taking orders for nucs in WI we are sorry but the truck is full. For future reference if you live in WI or along our route up to WI, and would like nucleus hives then it is important that you get your order into us early in the year, as the truck fills up fast. 

This is a view looking down on a five frame nuc

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