A Nuc Day Dawns

This weekend marked a new bee-ginning in my life as a beekeeper and brought me a brand new experience.

In the past, I've installed package bees, which is a relatively simple process of dumping the bees into the hive box and making sure they have released their queen within a few days. This time, I'm installing bees from two nuc (nucleus) hives that I bought from a local master beekeeper, Cindy Hodges.

Last night, I went to pick up my bees at Cindy's house. She gave me verbal and written instructions on how to handle the installation process. Nuc hives come with five full deep frames of bees and a queen that is already part of the colony. The frames are full of comb, pollen, eggs and even some honey around the edges.

When I arrived home, I placed the nucs on top of the hives where they will be living, opened their entrances and left them for the night. As I walked away, the girls were already bubbling out of the entrances, happy to have access to some cooler air and to start exploring their new yard.

This morning, after gently smoking around the entrances, I opened the nucs one at a time. The nuc frames have to be placed in the center of and same exact order and position facing out in the new hive super, which helps orient the bees to their new surroundings. After placing the nuc frames in the center of super, I added three empty frames on the outer sides to fill in the box. Then, the inner and outer covers go on top. There are still some bees hanging out in the nuc boxes, which I left open and next to their respective new hives. The girls will find their way into their new homes within a day or two.

Once I had both hives fully assembled, I inserted feeders with sugar water. Cindy tells me that nectar flow is good in Atlanta right now, so I probably won't have to feed the girls for more than a week or two. They will be out and about, finding their own nectar sources and pollen from flowers and other plants in the neighborhood.

It's so nice to look out into the back yard and see honeybees buzzing around again!

Preparing for a new bee-ginning...

Although it's January, today is a relatively mild day in Roswell — yesterday's cold rain has given way to sunny skies and mid-40s. Looking out the kitchen window at the back yard is a little sad for me. There are no bees to worry about right now. However, this seemed the perfect day to do some clean up in preparation for what's coming in the spring.

I'm excited to say that I've ordered two nucleus hives or "nucs" from a nearby Master Beekeeper, Cindy Hodges, who also happens to be president of the Metro Atlanta Beekeepers Association. A nuc is a small colony of a few thousand bees with a queen that has already produced brood on the frames being purchased. In the past, I have started hives from package bees, which, literally, come in a screened package with the queen in a separate cage. There are pros and cons to both nucs and package bees. Since nucs are locally produced, the bees and their queen are already acclimated to the climate. Additionally, nucs build up faster and are less prone to starvation, absconding or robbing by other bees. The nucs should be ready in mid-to-late April.

Here is a neat explanation of how to install a nuc from my favorite bee blog, Linda's Bees.

So, back to today's prep work. I took apart what was left of the old hives and threw away the parts that can't be salvaged. The rest of the hive components can be cleaned up with either a wire brush or a torch and the outsides repainted. Thanks to my good friend, Drea, and her donation of unused hive equipment in pristine condition, I have everything I need to set up two new hives this spring.

And speaking of two new hives, I'll be holding another contest to name them. Winners will receive a jar of honey when the bees provide it!