Time to Place the Order

It was time to place my order for my bees and in the essence of time, I chose to order the hive bodies from James at the Flippin Bee Company. First I had to decide between a Nuc and a Package. A Nuc is a nucleus colony. It is 5 frames of a bee hive which includes the queen, brood (eggs & larvae) and a little honey & pollen. Each of the frames should be completely covered in bees similar to this:

Ordering a Nuc allows you to get up and running quickly. You simply take the five frames from the nuc box, place them in your hive body, and give them a little food to get them by until the hive is stronger.

The other option is a package of bees. That's about 3 pounds of random bees which you toss in a hive with some comb and honey and hope they make a queen. This takes more time, because the bees have to make a queen. For new beekeepers, it seems that ordering a nuc is the most likely to succeed.

That ordered, I had to decide what size hive bodies. There are 5 frame (which are usually used for Nucs), 8 frames, and 10 frames. Ten frame is standard, however every woman beekeeper that I spoke to said they were transitioning to 8 frame hives because they are easier to lift when full. Finally, I had to decide the size of the hive body. There is a shallow, medium, and deep. Many keepers begin with a deep for the bees and their brood and then add mediums for honey. For the sake of uniformity, I decided to use only medium hive body boxes. My initial order included:

2 five frame medium nucs

2 bottom boards

4 eight frame hive boxes

2 internal feeders

2 inner covers

2 telescoping metal covers

24 medium frames with wax foundation & wire support

Total: $556

The bees are delayed because of the false start we had to spring. Hopefully, they will be here soon!

Total to date: $695.99

#nuc #package #spring #brood #FlippinBeeCompany