Nucs for sale, ready to go anytime

[Bill]

We are near Alford in Aberdeenshire and have nucs ready to go anytime now,
email brh18510@aol.com or call 019755 81239
thanks
Bill and Rosemary.

[Calum]

Who in their right mind buys a nuc at this time of year?
they'd have to be very cheap....
No garuntee they'll over winter, still have to be winter fed and varroa treated.
Better buy in April even if it costs more.

[Trog]

Nucs are not usually available in April. Here on Mull a July nuc will usually build up just fine in time for winter. We overwintered 3 small ones and by April two of them were too big to be sold as nucs. By May they were supered up with two supers on one of them. Out of interest, the two that built up so fast were overwintered in a twinstock. The nuc in a full-size hive with dummy boards and polystyrene was a little slower but soon got going. Mind you, we don't have varroa!

[Calum]

Hi, I'd be tarred and feathered if I sold a nuc now. In May ok, but its asking for trouble over here - especially if it dies over the winter (not the sellers fault, but you know who gets the blame).
In april ten pounds a frame twelve if there have been heavy losses!

[gavin]

The main flows in Scotland are in May for the winter oilseed rape, July for the main summer flowers (delayed a bit this year), August for those close to heather, and extending through September for those lucky enough to be close to Himalayan balsam. In some areas you need to wait for the heather for the main flow. The wintering stocks usually build on the oilseed rape (neonic-laced or not) when available and so this year's queens are not available until late May at the earliest, often June and sometimes later. For a nuc with this year's queen and 3-4 frames of sealed brood you'd be lucky to have one before late June.

There is an article in this month's Scottish Beekeeper which is also published as a technical note here (last on the list):

http://www.scottishbeekeepers.org.uk...ataSheets.aspx

This is some of the text on nucs:

Suffice to say that in summary a Nucleus can comprise of 3 to 5 British Standard (BS) Deep frames of bees with all stages of brood having been laid by a this year’s laying queen and sufficient food to allow them to be transported and become settled. Ideally your Nucleus should be on 5 frames. In Scotland you should avoid getting a 3 frame Nuc after the end of June, a 4 frame perhaps until mid-July. After this time the nucleus should be on 5 fully drawn frames in order to allow it time to build up sufficiently for winter. If you are on large format hives (Langstroth, British Commercial or Dadant) then the above 3, 4 & 5 BS frames can be translated to 2 up to mid-July and 3 thereafter as the frame sizes are much larger. Ideally the bees you source should be from your area as bees become acclimatised to their local environment. Use a reputable supplier and don’t be afraid to ask for references.

The advice to beginners is usually to obtain a 5-frame nuc in their first year with the intention of building it to a full box before the winter. OK, there is a risk of loss of the colony if Varroa isn't properly kept under control or the colony goes into winter without enough stores, but learning that is part of beekeeping. So, as long as folk realise that a honey crop is unlikely and that they may have to feed their nuc to get it to full size before the end of the season, there is still time.

[Trog]

Glad you said that, Gavin. I wouldn't want folk to think I was mis-selling nucs because I don't have them all ready by April!!

[Bumble]

Who in their right mind buys a nuc at this time of year?

Probably somebody who hasn't been able to buy one earlier in the year. This year the weather has been more than a little difficult for beekeepers.

We bought our first colonies in the winter, from somebody who was suddenly having to sell up.