Every beekeeper does things a bit differently, but here are the basic instructions for installing a nucleus colony.
Try not to let the bees get cold as you move them from the nuc box into their new home. As our Chief Apiary Inspector always says, “It takes heat to make bees!” Pick a warm day when there isn’t too much wind, and assemble all the equipment that you’ll need before you open up the nuc.
Set your new super (brood box) on its stand and bottom board, but don’t put any frames in it yet. Place the nuc box right beside the hive, to lessen the chances of losing your queen on the ground while you’re moving the frames.
Light your smoker. (Inexperienced beekeepers may want to blow a little smoke on the inside of their wrist to test that the smoke isn’t too hot!) Lift the lid of the nuc box and give a little puff of smoke across the top of the frames, to settle the bees.
Gently loosen the frames with your hive tool so that they can be lifted out with jarring. It is usually easiest to start with the second frame, rather than the outside frame that’s up against the wall of the box.
One by one, lift out each of the frames from the nuc box and transfer them to the empty super. As you do so, keep an eye out for your queen — but don’t take a long time to look for her and risk chilling the brood.
Some beekeepers prefer to place the frames from a nuc into the centre of the brood box, but others feel it’s better to put them in at one side. That way, they’re only exposed to cold air on one side of the cluster, the other side being insulated by the wood of the box.
Whether you choose to place the frames in the centre or at the side, do be sure to keep them all together, in the same order that they were in the nuc box.
Fill the rest of the super with frames. If you have frames of drawn comb that are in good shape and disease-free, do use those. That’ll save the bees a lot of work and get the colony building up more quickly. If not, just fill out the hive with frames of new foundation.
A good number of the bees will have stayed in the nuc box. Turn it upside down over the new hive and give a few sharp shakes. That will cause most of the remaining bees to drop into the hive. The bees that remain will eventually find there way back to their queen, inside the hive, if you just leave the open nuc box in front of the hive entrance.
Reduce the size of the entrance so the bees have an easier time to keep themselves warm, using a wooden entrance reducer or a piece of rigid foam insulation cut to fit the space.
Put a feeder on top of the super, if you want — especially if it’s early in the season and there isn’t much forage for the bees in your area and you expect to have to give sugar syrup. Put on the inner cover and the outer cover, and you’re done!
Thanks I had posted the question on the old message board, you read my mind :)
We aim to please, Jason!
I just did this 2 weeks ago.
Had a mentor lined up, who has unfortunately become unavailable to help at all, so I’m left trying to figure this out on my own.
I managed to install them successfully (only 3 stings), but am now sitting around wondering…. Now What?
I know I’m supposed to check my hive now (my mentor said he’d be over to show me what to look for, but he’s moving), but I don’t want to open the box any more than necessary, and I don’t know what I’m looking for.
Any help or link to resources would be appreciated.
Making sure you’ve got a laying queen would be the first thing, I’d say. If you don’t spot the queen herself, don’t worry too much, as long as you can see eggs. They are about the size of a grain of rice, standing up on end in the bottom of the cells. Tilt your frame so that the sun shines down in, and that’ll make them easier to see…
Have a good look at the terrific beekeeping images on MAAREC so you’ll know the major pests and brood diseases (especially European and American Foulbrood) if you see them, too.
You don’t say where you are located, but there’s a pretty good Beekeepers’ Calendar for British Columbia that would at least give you a starting point for planning your month-by-month chores in the bee yard.
Where you are located will also determine what treatments your bees will require for pests and disease, so you might want to call your Dept of Agriculture and see if they can hook you up with another beekeeper, or a local association… The value of having a mentor in that first few years cannot be overstated!
Someone else may have other comments and suggestions to add… but hope this helps you for the time being. Good luck!
Thanks for the comments.
Martinsburg, WV. Found this entry by googling “installed a nucleus, now what?”.
Have a local association which is where I found my first mentor. He just happened to decide to move in couple of months while I was awaiting my nuc, and hasn’t been really available for contact since. I’m having trouble finding other contacts now willing to help because everyone is so busy amongst themselves at this time. Black Locust blossom time, biggest flow of the year.
Wish I’d found the “how to light a smoker” entry before installing, and those 3 stings would’ve been avoided LOL.
I’ve read (Dadant book) that my next visit to the hive should be at the 3 week mark and that would be to look for eggs and such, but the time frames for it were for a package install. I’m ahead of that game, but am having trouble findind a “to-do” timeframe for a nuc install.
I’m guessing that after finding the queen, and examining the frames, that my next step is to begin moving the full frames (10 frame w/4 nuc) outward as needed, and then adding a second deep hive box when 90% of the first one is filled?
I’ve read the CP Dadant book several times. Are there other “definitive books” that anyone would recommend?
You’ve got a nice site, here, thanks.
West Virginia, huh? So you have a big honey flow on down there. You want to check for space and be ready to add a super so the bees don’t swarm. From now can mostly follow the same as if you had put in package bees.
First Lessons in Beekeeping by C.P. Dadant — is that the Dadant book you’ve been reading, Tom? It’s a good one for a beginner because it covers all the basics but it can be a bit confusing in places, too.
Down the road, you’ll probably want to get the A.I. Root book called The ABC’s and XYZ’s of Beekeeping, which is almost an encyclopedia of bee knowledge — but more than you need or want to know right now, most likely.
We listed a few in Good Reading for New Beekeepers. They were titles that were recommended by our members in a recent meeting, but of course that would be with more of an eye to eastern Canadian beekeepers… One that would work for you down in West Virginia, believe it or not, is the Dummies book. Despite the name, it is really an excellent book— in my opinion, one of the best on the market right now.
Sorry for the delay, but couldn’t find the bookmark…
tobee: this is my first time, so I don’t know how this flow compared but do know the black locust is our primary. I did check my hive, and they had drawn comb on 8/10 frames, so I added a second deep box.
workerbeej: Yes, that’s the book.
I’ll check out some of the other titles when I get a chance. What I’m finding is that even though I can read the books and understand what I’m supposed to do, once I get the box open, I’m still not confident once I get in there. I don’t know whether I’ve calmed the bees, whether their behaviour is normal, or whether they’re going to just attack like some B-horror movie, so I think I end up not examining things as I should. What I really need is to find someone else to watch and learn from. As a supplement, I’ve been thinking about buying a DVD I’ve found at a couple of sites by someone named Ed Weis, and perhaps that will give me some more concrete examples of how to go about it. The Dadant book tells me “what” to do and “why”, which is good, but I’m finding I need some visual clues of “how” to do it.
Hi Tom, You’re absolutely right that nothing beats hands-on learning with another beekeeper. Maybe you can find one who’ll let you tag along when he goes to his yards.
Sounds like you’re on track. Don’t worry about the bees attacking – mostly they’re just curious and a bit defensive – and that’s what your bee suit is for! The key is to move slowly and gently, no sudden movements or banging. As you gain in expeprience, you’ll gain in confidence, and then you’ll find the bees take their cue from you and calm down too!
Feel free to ask questions here, any time. We’re a good bit north of you, so the timing of things will be different, but bees are bees are bees…
My brother has tons of honey bees behind his siding and another nest under ground. Is there any beekeepers near martinsburg wv that would like to take them. I don’t think they should be exterminated, but we don’t know what to do. Any help would be great. thanks for your time and have a wonderful day!
Your site is great. Good to see info on beekeeping in Canada. I’ll be installing 2 nucs this week. I’m a little later to get them than I had planned (I broke my arm so needed to put it off for a few weeks). Thanks for the info on installing nucs.