The Cost of a Nuc Hive

[Jimbo]

At our local association we require to produce a number of nuc colonies for new beekeepers members in our association. In the past we would provide a swarm for free but they are few and far in recent years so the members are specifically asked to produce some nucs. The committee set a minimum rate of £50 for a 5 frame nuc. What do other associations do and how much do you charge for a nuc for new members of your association? What do you think is a fair price etc?

[Jon]

Tricky issue Jimbo.
If people give away swarms for free, usually those who have swarmy bees who run out of equipment to put all the casts into, it undermines the organised bee breeding efforts.
A lot of people will wait to get free bees rather than paying for a nuc with a grafted queen from selected best stock.
Same applies to selling a nuc as £50 barely covers costs. The 5 frames alone are worth £15 and you will have to fight to get the box back.
You lose half your life trying to get empty nuc boxes returned and mostly you don't see them again.
We are trying to coordinate our local organizations to provide standardized nucs at a fixed price.
I would be looking at something like £150 for an April nuc headed by an overwintered grafted queen in a 6 frame Payne polynuc which is worth £40 in itself. The beginner keeps the nuc box.
The beginner would get 3 or 4 sessions of tuition with the nuc at an association apiary before taking it home.

The plan is that the nuc of bees is sold as a package with tuition and a poly nuc box for maybe £150.

Check the prices.
Thorne see a queen for £48 + vat + carriage, ie about £60

Their nucs which are sold out anyway were way over £200.

We have not started this yet but we have had meetings to discuss it and hope to get things going soon.

[The Drone Ranger]

The correx flat boxes you fold up were about £10 a few years ago still a bit steep.
Wonder if they are cheaper in bulk
They held a 5 frame nuc

Although £125 is a big investment for a nuc it should pay for itself the following year if the purchaser can make a nuc up for sale
I am hopeless when it comes to selling anything and always end up out of pocket by a long way

[Jon]

I am hopeless when it comes to selling anything and always end up out of pocket by a long way

You and me both DR. If I had to live as a salesman I would starve to death.

I bought 10 of those correx boxes and then realised that I could make my own for next to nothing.
I have over 20 of my own, sadly now empty as I lost most of my overwintered nucs.

[Black Comb]

We charge £100.
But, a new beek will need to pay for the introduction day plus the course as well.
Of course these are not available yet, interesting to see when.

[drumgerry]

There's always the argument that if you price something a bit higher then the buyer will appreciate what they've got and work harder to keep it. I think under-pricing nucs is a mistake given they're so hard to come by and we're all working so hard to keep our bees going. We should be pricing them at market rate - private individuals and associations alike. I don't think £150 is unreasonable for a nuc in this day and age.

[prakel]

I don't think £150 is unreasonable for a nuc in this day and age.

Agreed. Under pricing does no one any favours. It's not so many years ago that the average price for a pound jar of honey was somewhere around the £1.20/£1.50 mark, kept that low by local beekeepers selling on the door and simply under valuing their product. Thankfully times have changed.

[Trog]

I think £150 is reasonable. Let's face it; if any of us who are producing nucs were to lose all our bees through some disaster (eg poisoning/fire) we'd be very unlikely to be given replacement bees for nothing.

[fatshark]

This year our association members have been told to expect to pay £120 for a nuc in April or May. None were available in April and I've agreed to sell mine at that price this month. These are overwintered, locally raised 2012 queens, 5 frame (or possibly 6) nucs meeting BBKA or NBU 'guidelines'. This price is about 20% up on last year. The nuc box is returnable ... and anyone who has seen my woodworking would be unprepared to pay for it anyway.

The reality is that there are almost none available. Most association members suffered severe winter losses.

Overwintered queens (from mini nucs) will be £25-40 depending upon their parentage.

I think these prices are reasonable for both the seller and the buyer. I think the price Jon suggests for bees, tuition and a poly box is perhaps too low ... or exceptional value, depending whether you are the buyer or seller.

I think a good solution for the "free bees" brigade is to provide requeened swarms mid-season for the price of the queen. That is both great value and helps the local gene pool. I'm keen to establish a quarantine apiary here in which all swarms are housed, treated for mites, requeened and then moved on.

However, I'm still chuffed when an association member thanks me for the queen/nuc I gave them late in the season and tells me how well they overwintered. I benefitted from such acts of generosity in my first year and I hope it is a tradition that continues.

[Jon]

The correx flat boxes you fold up were about £10 a few years ago still a bit steep.
Wonder if they are cheaper in bulk

DR
Forget your £10+ folding correx boxes and make a few of these with OMF and 50mm insulation on the top. About £2 should cover it, 50p if you can live without the mesh floor or the insulation.

correx-box-mesh-floor.jpg correx-box-insulation.jpg correx-box-stack.jpg correx-box-insulated-dummy.jpg