After Installing a Nuc – Building Up the Colony
2025-03-09
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Written by : Suzanne Wiebe
How to Install a Nuc
Or, how we install nucs in single boxes. I will also talk about how we install nucs in double nuc boxes to become nuc colonies.
Set Up
Before you bring a nuc home there are a few things to do.
- Buy your equipment and hive. Take a look at our post on equipment you need.
- Click to Read: Beekeeping Equipment New Beekeepers Need
- Click to Read: The Investment in Bees – Time and Money
- Determine whether you are going to feed, and what you are going to feed.
- To Feed Your Bees or Not To Feed – Silver Creeks Bees
- Do You Feed Your Bees? – Silver Creeks Bees
- Do you have a source of water within sight of your hive?
- Consider your beekeeping location.
- You want early morning sunshine. Do not put your bees too close the trees. We have had bees in the shade, and they never do as well.
- What type of vegetation is around the hives. Is it easy to trim/cut? Can you move around the hives easily? How far do you need to carry 90lb honey supers to your vehicle?
- Make sure you are compliant with the municipal rules.
- Register your beehives with the province.
- Join a local beekeeper’s group. Get to know your local beekeeping supply store.
- Set up your hive
- Make sure your stand is level. Most stands are 18” above the ground.
- Put all but 4 frames in your hive.
- If you are going to add insulation to the lid then cut this and add it.
- What feeder will you use? Always use in hive feeding for a new or weak hive. This reduces robbing by other bees. Are you using a frame feeder, or adding a shim on the top and feeding on the top? If you are feeding pollen patties and fondant then you will need a shim.
- If you look on your frames you will notice a little notch or perforated triangle in the bottom corner. It is important that you break this out.
- Do not put the queen excluder on. I have observed that bees will not recognize the area above a queen excluder as part of their hive unless there is drawn comb above.
I wrote another post on How to Install a Nuc with a different focus
How to Install a Nuc
Or, how we install nucs in single boxes. I will also talk about how we install nucs in double nuc boxes to become nuc colonies.
Set Up
Before you bring a nuc home there are a few things to do.
1.Buy your equipment and hive. Take a look at our post on equipment you need.
a.Click to Read:Beekeeping Equipment New Beekeepers Need
b.Click to Read: The Investment in Bees – Time and Money
2.Determine whether you are going to feed, and what you are going to feed.
a.To Feed Your Bees or Not To Feed – Silver Creeks Bees
b.Do You Feed Your Bees? – Silver Creeks Bees
c.Do you have a source of water within sight of your hive?
3.Consider your beekeeping location.
a.You want early morning sunshine. Do not put your bees too close the trees. We have had bees in the shade, and they never do as well.
b.What type of vegetation is around the hives. Is it easy to trim/cut? Can you move around the hives easily? How far do you need to carry 90lb honey supers to your vehicle?
c.Make sure you are compliant with the municipal rules.
d.Register your beehives with the province.
e.Join a local beekeeper’s group. Get to know your local beekeeping supply store.
4.Set up your hive
a.Make sure your stand is level. Most stands are 18” above the ground.
b.Put all but 4 frames in your hive.
c.If you are going to add insulation to the lid then cut this and add it.
d.What feeder will you use? Always use in hive feeding for a new or weak hive. This reduces robbing by other bees. Are you using a frame feeder, or adding a shim on the top and feeding on the top? If you are feeding pollen patties and fondant then you will need a shim.
e.If you look on your frames you will notice a little notch or perforated triangle in the bottom corner. It is important that you break this out.
f.Do not put the queen excluder on. I have observed that bees will not recognize the area above a queen excluder as part of their hive unless there is drawn comb above.
I wrote another post How to Install a Nuc from a different focus. It would help to read that one as well. How to Install and Care for a Nuc
Picking up a Nuc – Transporting a Nuc
We suggest people pick up their nuc as early as possible, 6am if you can. You want to get the nuc home before it overheats.
When I am transporting nucs or packages I always put a sensor in them to I can measure the temperature. You want to make sure your nuc has ample airflow and stays cool. I have seen John and I come home from the airport with 20 packages in the back see, at the end of March, with the air conditioning on. Those are very cold nights, especially as we need to get the packages into nuc boxes when we get home. That is the least fun day of the whole bee year.
Do not stop, or run errands. Go straight to your bee yard.
The top picture, at night, is us bringing packages back from Pearson International Airport.
The bottom picture is nucs we are brining back from a local bee breeder.
Avoid Shocking the Hive
If you are installing earlier than May 15, you should be aware of the temperature, and weather. I would never put a nuc into a cold hive. We have warmed the deeps, frames and lids when the weather is cold and damp. That said, we also bring home packages and nucs as early as the first week of April.
Most of you will never need to worry about warming a hive. That said, we will never put cold fondant, pollen patties, or syrup into a hive.
Bees can die of shock. Ian Steppler, the Canadian Beekeeper, and one of the most respected beekeepers in Canada, talks about shock. He says that in the early spring while the hives are building out he puts the new super underneath the brood box to avoid shocking the hive.
The hive will be stressed. It cannot be helped, but it can be mitigated. Keep the bees out of direct sun as much as possible. Keep the bees warm as possible. Work as fast as possible.
Step By Step Installing Your Nuc
Have your hive set up and ready before picking up the nucs.
Do not let sunshine directly onto, or into, the nuc. You can buy screens for the car windows to block the sun. They make them to protect babies in the back seat.
Do not put all your nucs tightly together. Leave a little space between each nuc.
Leave the air conditioning on, and the fan on high, but not blowing right into the nuc.
IF you have a queen separate, she needs to be kept warm and OUT OF THE SUN. One beekeeper put a bunch of queens on the dash of his car. The sun was shining on the queens, in less than five minutes they were all dead.
When you arrive home, put the nucs in the shade until you are ready to install them. Do not open the entrance!
Open the hive, arrange the empty frames to the sides of the hive leaving the center open for the frames of bees.
Do not open your nuc on the ground. I will turn an empty super on its side, beside my hive. This gives me a little table to put my nuc on.
- I want to be able to move the bees in one smooth movement between the nuc and the hive.
- I want to reduce any chance that bees will fall off the nuc.
- I want to keep the bees out of the sunlight as much as possible.
- I want to reduce the chance that my queen will fly away.
- As I am moving the frames towards the hive I take a good look at the capped brood. How long until it hatches? Are the caps pushed out (bubbled)? Are they wrinkly and dry looking? These are signs that the capped brood is only a few days from emerging.
When moving the frames lift them straight up. In a slow, smooth movement cross the frame overtop of the hive and then lower the frame straight down into the hive. Once it is in you can carefully draw it sideways to where it will rest.
When all four or five frames are in the hive look in the empty nuc. Do you see the queen? Do you see a little ball of bees in the corner? It is important that you carefully put the queen in the hive. If you have a queen catcher, you can carefully lift the queen. If not, take your gloves off and lift the queen in your hand. Quickly put her in the hive.
One trick I have learned is to put the queen on the top frame and cup my hand over it so that she cannot fly out, and she is covered from the sun. Give her about 10 seconds and she will have crawled down into the frames.
Add your pollen patty, syrup, and/or fondant. If you are setting up your nuc when it is still cold then use fondant. Syrup will give bees dysentery if you use it when it is cold and wet. Fondant will work just as well. You can feed fondant all year around to a nuc.
The empty nuc is a great place to store the extra frames. Do not throw this nuc away. It will be a great tool to use when you are inspecting your hives, as a swarm prevention tool, or if you want to harvest a supersedure cell.
Step #2
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Our Journey
This blog is our beekeeping Story, based on our experience. It is not meant to be an adorative or academic resource.
Reserve Your Nuc
Early nucs in May often sell out before March. Do not wait and be disappointed.
