If you’re anything like I was when I first started out with bees, you’ll be excited to transfer your new bees from the nuc box they come in over to their new hive as soon as possible.
However, doing this can actually do more harm than good.
The reason is because the earlier you move them, the more you’ll break up the comb they’ve already built for themselves. They’ll have to start from scratch building comb in their new hive, which will mean that they’ll have to eat through more of their winter honey stores.
That’s why, regardless of the time of year, you should wait until they’ve at least drawn out all of the frames in the nuc box before moving them over. It’s totally fine if they’ve not yet filled in every single one of those frames, because they’ll continue to draw out comb in the hive as they need it.
Don’t worry: you’re not going to starve them.
In fact, by waiting until they’ve drawn out the required amount of comb before moving them to their new hive, you’ll be helping them out. Bees don’t like empty space, so by moving them to their new hive when they’ve built all the comb they need, you’re going to prevent them from building comb out in weird places where they really shouldn’t.
That comb is known as “cross comb,” and it’s bad news. You should always aim to prevent it wherever possible.
Anyway, the amount of comb that they need to draw out before you can move them varies depending on the type of nuc you have, so I’ll go over each in turn.
For a 5 Frame Nuc Box (the Most Common Type)
The majority of the time, a 5 frame nuc box will come with 3 frames that have been built out with comb, and the other 2 frames will either be empty or have foundation on them.
In this case, you can move them to their new hive as soon as the bees have drawn out the comb down to 3 frames wide. In other words, they should have all the frames with comb on them connected together in a row.
When you move them, just be careful not to break that comb. It’s really delicate, so handle it gently.
For a 4 Frame Nuc Box
If you’ve got yourself a 4 frame nuc box, then the situation is a little different. A 4 frame nuc box will come with 3 frames that have been built out with comb, and the other frame will either be empty or have foundation on it.
In this case, you can move them to their new hive as soon as the bees have drawn out the comb down to 2 frames wide. In other words, they should have all the frames with comb on them connected together in a row.
Again, be careful not to break that comb when transferring them over.
For a 3 Frame Nuc Box
If you’ve got yourself a 3 frame nuc box, then the situation is a little different again. A 3 frame nuc box will come with 2 frames that have been built out with comb, and the other frame will either be empty or have foundation on it.
In this case, you can move them to their new hive as soon as the bees have drawn out the comb down to 1 frame wide. In other words, they should have all the frames with comb on them connected together in a row.
Again, be careful not to break that comb when transferring them over.
The Telltale Sign They’re Ready
The simplest way to tell if they’re ready to be moved is to look at their entrance. If you see bees fanning at the entrance, then they’re telling the other bees in the colony that they’ve moved, and they should come and join them in the new hive.
This fanning behavior is the surefire sign that they’ve made the move. If you see it, you can move them over to their new hive right away.