Winding Down and Building Up
A freshly made five frame and two frame nuc
The seasons are changing and the work with the bees is changing pace too. Our bees got much more active in the late September and October and were making honey off of the goldenrod, asters, and other wildflowers that had come into full bloom. We got the last honey of the year harvested later in November, and have shifted gears from harvesting honey to preparing equipment for the coming year.
Dad has built up nuc boxes that will see plenty of use in a few months. “Nuc” is short for nucleus colony. A nucleus colony is essentially a smaller hive of bees that have many uses for beekeepers of all sizes. We will use these boxes for making new hives with splits or catching swarms to replace hives of our own that didn’t make it through the winter or hives that are just a little weaker and need a new queen and some workers for a boost early in the year. Some folks will even use five frame nucs selectively since the smaller boxes make for lighter work and bees can overwinter in a five frame nuc box in the warmer southern climate. We also sell five frame nucs with bees and they’re great for folks starting out because the frames can simply be added to an eight or ten frame hive and the bees will be up and running immediately since they already have a laying queen and comb to start with.
The two frame nucs, pictured on the upper right, will be used mostly as mating nucs for the queen bees we raise. The two frame nuc gives recently hatched queens a place to stay while they’re making their mating flights before they are ready to be sold or go into a larger hive. Mating nucs don’t need many worker bees so a little two frame box is perfect for the job and allows us to keep all the boxes and frames we use interchangeable for less waste and mess versus using mini-nucs which have smaller sized frames in the box.
Our five frame nucs and queens are now available for pre-order! The nucs will be available for pick-up and the queens will be avaialable for pick-up or shipping starting in late March.
