Prepare to Transport and Install your Nucs
Here’s some important details and tips for successful transport and installation.
You will be transporting a box of live honey bees. Follow these steps to prepare:
- Arrive with a place to carry bees home (i.e. tie straps if going into the back of a truck or a mesh nuc bag or old bedsheet to wrap the nuc loosley).
- Bring a smoker and bee suit, in case of mishap upon your trip home.
- On warm days, strong nucs must be kept cool during transport. Do not leave them in an enclosed car or trunk or the bees may overheat and die!
- Our nucs generally go out very strong and full of brood, and are thus HUNGRY. Please be prepared to feed them sugar syrup immediately when you arrive home!
Installing a nuc is simple. Follow these steps for success:
- Have your gear ready and your smoker well lit.
- Remove frame from an empty hive to make room for the ones inside the nuc.
- Place the nuc beside the hive keeping the same orientation as the hive.
- Gently give the nuc a few puffs of smoke to the bees inside the nuc.
- Remove the lid to get access to the frames with the bees.
- Give them some more smoke as needed but only enough to drive the bees down.
- Gently but deliberately loosen the frames with your hive tool and remove the first frame.
- Be careful to not roll or squish the bees or possibly the queen. Squashed bees release alarm pheromone which can make the bees aggressive.
- Inspect the frames one at a time looking for food, bees, eggs, larvae, and with luck, the queen.
- Place the frames into the new hive keeping them in the same order and positions they were in, inside the nuc box.
- Inspect the now mostly-empty nuc box for remaining bees and/or the queen. Gently tap the remaining bees into the hive or, in the case of the queen, catch and place into the hive.
- Introduce a feeder if needed to subsidize food until a nectar flow starts.
- Replace the inner cover and lid and wait a week to 10 days before inspecting their progress.
- Leave the nuc box out beside the hive to allow for any last stragglers to find their way to the colony.
- Keep feeding as needed and regulate space as the bee colony expands.
Additional questions or concerns? Please email Jason Cirioli, resident beekeeper at jason@gardensupplyco.com
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