What does a Chickabuzz Nuc include?

• A survivor queen, who is the daughter of queens who can handle Ohio's ups-and-downs.
• Very low varroa mite counts, for strong healthy bees;
• 3 frames of brood, heavy on the capped brood but still including eggs and larvae;
• 2 frames with pollen and nectar;
• All 5 frames covered with bees, who are the queen's daughters;
• 3 jars of honey!
• If you chose the deluxe option with free delivery and installation and 3 follow up visits, you get those too!

Care and Feeding of your Nuc

First, before your Nuc arrives, you must have the following ready to go:
1. Your protective gear. I recommend at least 5 mil-thickness nitrile gloves (not available in stores, only online), and a veil. A head-only veil is fine; or a jacket. I don't recommend a full-body suit. I do recommend mesh rather than canvas for the jacket.
2. The second brood box, assembled. This is useful for a box to cover your feeder jars It's also useful as a "quiet box" to place frames while inspecting. Always be one box ahead.
3. 15 more frames, assembled. As well as the second box for the brood chamber, assembled and ready to go.
4. A feeder container for sugar syrup. You need enough capacity so the bees can be given 1 quart a day, or 1 gallon every 4 days.
5. A pollen patty. In addition to a pollen patty, a winter patty is good insurance if temps will be too cold for the bees to take sugar syrup.
6. Your honey supers. You won't be putting them on the hive until July, but that will be here before you know it. It is important to plan on getting honey supers on the hive and drawn out this year, and the easiest way to start that is to acquire, assemble and finish 2 honey supers before your bees arrive.

Next up is Installation Day!
• Have your feeding materials ready. A 1/4 pollen patty can be placed on the inner cover, next to the center hole. Quart jars can be placed next to the center hole too suspended on something the thickness of a wooden ruler. Have the spare box ready to go.
• Have undrawn frames at positions 1-2 in the destination box. Frames 8-10 will be added once the rest are in.
• Take an outer frame from the nuc box, and place in position 3. Snap a pic of the frame, either in the transfer process or once in the hive. See this page for tips for manipulating frames.
• Continue with each nuc frame, preserving the "relative" position it was in to its neighbors. Take a pic of each.
• Place frames 8-10 in.
• Place the inner cover on, and then the pollen patty and sugar syrup, and then the spare box, and then FINALLY the lid.
• Take some notes. See my hive inspections page for more info about what's on the frames and how to document an inspection.

That's not a lot of directions for such a momentous occasion! But moving each frame takes just a minute or so, and then you put the hive back together... and settle in for some bee watching. After about 15 min or so, if the weather is mild enough and it's not too close to the evening, the bees will start foraging.

Be advised that while the transport hive is open, while frames are being transferred into the new box, about a quarter of bees will take flight. The bees treat the situation as a case where their bee tree has fallen, and once the transport box is opened, it is time to survey the damage. Any holes to repair? And what are the new landmarks in their new location?

It helps to realize the bees are not in "defensive mode", but in "reorienting mode".

Once each frame is transferred, the bees will fan for about 10 min or so. This is the "come hither, this is the front door" signal to the older bees that are flying, searching for home. It helps with the reorienting process.
If we don't see the queen on the frames, that's ok. She's often on a frame corner, or under a protective blanket of bees, but we will definitely check the box carefully to be sure the queen did not get left behind!

Now that the bees are in there, what's next?
• Week 1: feed pollen patty (just 1/4, just this once or once eaten if rainy weather will persist for many days) and 4 quarts of 2:1 sugar syrup. Likely 2 sugar syrup feedings will be needed.
• With each frame and box manipulation, you should take some notes. See my hive inspections page for more on what to note.
• Week 2: Feed as before. In addition, it is time to shuffle a frame in towards the center. Open hive, and place an undrawn frame from position 1 or 10 at position 5.
• Week 3: Feed as before. As much as they will take. And swap another frame into the center.
• Week 4: Time for the next box! Take 2 drawn frames from below, from positions 4 and 5, and place in center of new box. Push frames together in bottom box, and replace with undrawn frames at the outer edges of the hive.
• And keep feeding.
• Week 5-8: Keep feeding and swapping an undrawn frame into the center of either the top or bottom box.
• Last 2 Undrawn Frames: Once there are only 2 undrawn frames, you'll be at the point where all the frames are covered with bees. Place an undrawn frame at the center of the top box and of the bottom box. And, add HONEY SUPER!

So... honey super is on. It's nearly July, or beginning of July. Now what?
• Keep feeding, yes, with the honey super on.
• Cycle outer undrawn frames in towards center, once, after about half the super is drawn.
• Once the first super has all frames covered with bees, add second super.
• Once second super has all frames drawn out, time to extract. And to stop feeding. The bees will bring in nectar, and need somewhere to put it!

Then what?!?!

Check out my general guide to getting your hive to survive page for how to help the bees tackle the threats that occur each season.

Something worth pointing out: Bees can Sting!


All hives have the capacity to be defensive, but the threshold that "must not be crossed" varies from hive to hive. Once that line is crossed, some bees stay defensive for longer. But all bees will respond to us as a threat if provoked by us acting like a bear - intentionally or accidentally. See my page on defensive bees for more info about what's acceptable, what's not, and how to avoid triggering defensive behavior.

This is why you must always were a veil - so you can run if you need to.

For example, if you knock over a hive, you will want to be able to run away afterwards, so you can REALLY garb up and return to fix the damage. Sounds impossible? You might get out there and not realize the ground has shifted, put weight just the wrong way and... you'd better be able to run.

Remember that bees go for the eyes and mouth, and do not risk it - wear the veil when you will be taking the lid off, no matter how quick the job is supposed to be.