Nucs

Northern Raised Nucleus Colonies (“Nucs”)

Nucs are our specialty.
Nucs are the easiest way for beginners to establish new hives.
We don’t cut any corners.

The nucs that we sell you are the same as those that we produce for ourselves.

All of our nucs are Massachusetts raised and overwintered in our Medway, and Franklin bee yards. These are not southern-raised nucs. All queens have been reared from our overwintered northern stock and are better adapted to the New England climate. Each year our breeder stock is tested through a winter prior to grafting.

Our “nucs” are 5-frame mini-hives comprised of

a marked queen and her daughters, pollen, nectar and honey.

Availability is dependent upon weather and growing conditions for the bees. All of our nucs are locally grown so Mother nature plays a big part here. We wait until we have sufficient build-up of bees for splitting. Our spring nucs need plenty of drones to give the queens the best chance of being as well-mated as possible. We estimate that overwintered nucs will begin to be ready for release sometime in late May into early June. Our Spring nucs will be available in late June. All nucs are released on a first ordered/first pickup basis. As they become ready we will contact you to arrange your pickup appointment.
Our nucs are 5-frame mini-hives comprised of a marked queen and her daughters, pollen, nectar and honey. It comes in a reusable nuc box with five 9 1/8 in. Langstroth frames for easy transport. There is no equipment exchange. All our queens and nucs are fully guaranteed against failure or disease for 30 days—if there is anything about them that you do not like, you may return them for replacement. Losses due to improper care are of course not covered.
We treat for varroa mites, but only when needed. We test regularly using the alcohol wash method and treat after determining what our mite levels are in every bee yard. Mite treatments are done when required and are  usually done in September with Apivar strips. This is followed up with a oxcalic acid vapor treatment and a late fall treatment using the oxcalic acid dribble method. I do try to squeeze in 1 or 2 oxcalic acid vapor treatments in the winter when the bees are broodless