Norfolk Honey - Honey Bees - nuc prices 2012
Nuc prices 2012
I offer nucs for sale in April, May and June and July
What is a nuc?
A nuc is the heart of the colony. A nuc is comprised of several frames of
brood and the all important queen. A nuc should also contain
some frames of stores.
The price of a nuc varies depending on who you buy it from.
I think it's fair to say that if you join a bee keeping association and buy
your nuc from another member of the association it's likely to be priced
at the lower end of the price scale. That is one of the benefits of joining
an association. However, you may be put on a list and you may need to wait
for some time before your
name
gets
to the
top
of
the
list. Some Beekeeping Associations are more proactive than others when it comes
to helping new members get started by supplying them with bees.
Nucs are not swarms. In an association, as a beginner who wants bees, you could
be put on list for a swarm.
Our first nucs become available at the end of April and have 2011 queens.
They cost £185 + box.
Nucs with new queens become available from the end of May. They cost £165 +
the box.
Nucs are generally transported in a nuc box (or traveling
box) that will take
five or six standard brood frames. When you get your nuc box back to your
apiary you
take
the frames with bees on
out of your nuc box and put them into your brood box.
I also supply nucs already in
a brood box -- please see -- http://www.norfolkhoney.co.uk/equipment/complete_kit.php
Buying a nuc of bees in the early spring gives you an advantage in that you
know that the bees have been strong enough to survive a winter and you are
therefore very likely to get a good crop of honey from your new bees before
the season is done.
If you buy a strong nuc of bees in April and feed it up
you may be able to 'split' (please
explain 'split') your
hive into two. You can do this in May or June. If you split your hive in
May you could take honey from both hives by the end of the season and have
two colonies to take through the winter.
Buying a strong nuc at the beginning
of the season (April) gives the bees time to settle down and establish themselves
in your new location and once settled they will make honey for you by the
end of July. But as the queens sold in April
are the previous year's queens you may need to read up on swarm control
if you are
not to loose your queen in a swarm in your first season.
Better still you can sign up for my online
queen breeding course that
will give you our safe way of creating an artificial swarm and raising
a new queen whilst ensuring that you keep your existing queen secure.
You can buy a nuc delivered to your door in a polystyrene traveling box - click
here to see details
You can also buy bees from me as complete brood box in a second
hand hive.