Keeping bees healthy is a tough job, and it takes decades to get good at. When starting to keep bees, the learning curve is steep for those who try to learn the trade. It is daunting to grasp the knowledge expounded by those only a few years ahead of you. You can read all the beginner beekeeping books, but starting off on the right foot will help you the most. Buying a nucleus hive or package bees can make all the difference in being successful in your first year.
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What is a Nuc/ Newk / Nuwk / Nook / Nucleus hive
Beekeepers shorten the term nucleus to ‘nuc’. It is pronounced like a Barnes and Noble E-reader or as the nuc (nuke) in “nuclear”. Both pronunciations are common enough. They are accepted into the long list of beekeeping jargon.
A nucleus hive is a miniature full-size hive. It has all the parts that a colony of bees needs to grow into a fully functioning beehive that is able to sustain itself indefinitely. The nucleus hive will come with a mated queen who is actively laying eggs, 4-5 frames with fully developed honeycomb, around 10,000 adult bees, enough honey to survive transportation to the new beekeeper’s yard and lots of bee eggs that will hatch in the next several weeks. The nucleus hive is one of the more popular ways for beginner beekeepers to start their new colony of bees in their own backyard. If starting your first colony, make sure you put your hives in the right location.
Advantages Of A Nucleus Hive
- Everything a colony needs to quickly increase its population
- Contains 4-5 frames of drawn out comb
- Contains lots of pollen and capped honey, ready to be used for raising brood
- Often sold in cardboard, pro nuc, or wood box that can be used again
- High probability of success during 1st year of colony
- Worker bees and queen know each other and are already working together
- Easy to install compared to packages (watch our how to install a nucleus hive video)
- Typically come from local sources, which means queens are better acclimated
- Often purchased straight from the beekeeper, creating a sense of accountability
- Nucs have every generation of brood already, eggs, larvae, capped brood, foragers, etc…
Disadvantages Of A Nucleus Hive
- Not always available and usually requires beekeeping contacts to find them
- Often available later in the spring than package bees are
- State laws may prevent transport across state lines
- More expensive than packages
- Beekeeper may need to exchanging boxes, frames and foundation with seller
- Often only sold in deep boxes with deep frames; medium frames nucs are much less common
- Comb may contain pesticides and fungicides you will transfer to your new hive
- The comb that comes in a nucleus hive may harbor diseases
- Low-quality beekeepers may sell you their broken or old equipment
- It is difficult to find nucs designed for top-bar hives
What Is A Package Of Bees?
Likewise, packages have their own advantages and disadvantages.
A package of bees is much different than a nucleus hive both visually and genetically. The package of bees is manufactured by beekeeper supply companies in volume and the adult bees in the package can be combined from half a dozen different colonies. And the queen is unrelated to any of the worker bees in the package as well. She is taken from a miniature mating colony and placed in the package.
A package of bees is typically a wooden or plastic screened box with “loose” honeybees moving around inside of the screen. There are typically between 8,000 and 12,000 adult bees in the package. In addition to the adult bees, there is a single mated queen that is in her own cage to temporarily protect her from the adult bees during transport and introduction into the new beehive. There is not any comb, eggs or larva in a package of bees.
Advantages Of Package Bees
- Available across the United States
- Installation window is flexible while bees are in screened box
- Cheapest way to buy bees
- Can receive further discounts when buying a large volume of bees
- Brand new queen, only weeks old are sold with packages
- Does not come with any honeycomb, so diseases are not spread
- Most traditional way to stat a hive, so advice is available on tips and tricks
- The easiest way to buy bees for a top-bar hive
Our Take On It All
Packages are trying to be a swarm, which is a group of honeybees looking for a new place to live in. Swarming bees are preparing to build a comb in a new home. The bees in a package aren’t prepared to build new wax and a home-like a swarm. This is why packages struggle to succeed. They just aren’t prepared well.
Its like hearing a tornado coming in a week and being able to prepare versus a tornado popping up and destroying your home right now. If you know you’ll need to build a new home, preparing goes a long way in succeeding.
Swarms Prepare And Packages Don't
That being said, packages are easy to buy. This is why they are so popular. Because packages are easy to buy, beekeepers take a risk with bees that may not survive rather than not getting bees at all.
If possible, buy nucleus hives if you can. They’re better than packages in almost all scenarios. But remember, nucs aren’t better than packages if they are not available. In the right hands, packages can surpass nucs in population during the first year. Still, that doesn’t negate the negatives that come with a package.
Happy Beekeeping
