A nuc is a 3-5 frame hive of bees with a mated queen and food resources. At least 3 out of the five frames should be already drawn out and full of brood, honey, and pollen. A nuc is one of the ways that beekeepers get to a new colony in the apiary. Unlike a bee package, it has bees at all stages of life. The bees start foraging almost immediately after installation. They are usually available from bee suppliers and local beekeeping clubs. Installing a nuc entails taking a mini-hive frame and placing it in a full-sized hive box. It gives you a major head start in filling your first bee colony. 

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What time of day do you install a nuc of bees?

It is best to install bees the same day you get them. The best time to install a nuc is in the late afternoon, closer to sundown. In the evening, the bees are aware that the day is beginning to wane, and they will naturally calm down and reduce their activity. They are less likely to fly and easy to manage. The nighttime hours following the installation give them ample time to settle into the new home. The bees cluster in the hive at night, giving time to calm down and reduce stress emanating from transportation. 

When the day dawns, the bees will orient themselves around the hive and establish the hive location as the new home. Bees installed in the morning hours will not do an orientation flight and may lose their bearings. They may not realize the hive is in a new home. This increases the risk of the bees abandoning the hive. If you get your nuc early in the morning, it is advisable to keep it in a cool dark building until late afternoon. You can consider spraying them with sugar water to provide them with food as you await late afternoon arrival. 

How do you install a nuc?

• Place the nuc alongside the beehive. 
• Put on your protective gear since a nuc colony may be more defensive than packaged bees. They have brood and stores of food to protect.
• Light your smoker and puff a little smoke near the nuc entrance to reduce their alarm response.
• Have additional frames ready for the empty hive. If using a standard Langstroth hive, you will require a total of 10 frames. 
• Put four frames in the hive: two on each end, and leave a large opening at the center. 
• Open the nuc box, start by removing one frame from the outside, and place them in the new hive. Since you don’t know where the queen is, you should be careful not to squish her. 
• Once all the frames are in the new hive, place the last empty frame in the hive and complete the 10-frame set-up. 
• Shake any remaining bees into the new hive. 

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Precautions to take after Installing a Nuc

• Ensure you feed the bees. Even though they have five frames of drawn comb, they still have a lot to do to establish a colony. 
• The nuc is a small family, protect them from robbers by installing an entrance reducer. The entrance should be small until the population builds up in a couple of weeks. 
• While the queen is known by the colony, you should be careful since you don’t know where she is. Be sure to do a thorough inspection a week after installation to look for the queen, eggs, or young brood. 
• When 8 out of 10 frames are drawn, you can add another box on your nuc colony. Giving them too much space after installation will cause them stress in maintaining the space.