If you want to know how many bees are in a nuc, you need to know how many frames in it are fully drawn out and covered in bees. A fully drawn-out frame is called a “drawn frame,” and a frame that’s fully covered in bees is called a “covered frame.”
A nuc can contain anywhere between 3 and 6 frames, with 5 frames being the most common type of nuc.
When you receive your nuc, you’ll usually receive it in a temporary cardboard nuc box, rather than in a proper wooden nuc box. This is because nuc boxes are expensive and the cardboard nuc box is a lot cheaper.
If you go for a 3 frame nuc, you can expect it to contain around 8,000 bees. A 3 frame nuc is a good idea if you’re new to beekeeping and want to start off small. It’s a lot less expensive than a 5 frame nuc, and you don’t have to worry about the extra frames and bees.
If you go for a 5 frame nuc, you can expect it to contain around 12,000 bees. A 5 frame nuc is a good idea if you’re new to beekeeping and want to start off with the most common type of nuc for beginners. You get the most bang for your buck with a 5 frame nuc, as you’ll be able to start using the extra frames and bees to expand the hive immediately.
If you go for a 6 frame nuc, you can expect it to contain around 16,000 bees. A 6 frame nuc is a good idea if you’re new to beekeeping and want to start off with the strongest possible colony. The extra frame of bees means that the colony will be more advanced and will grow faster than a 5 frame nuc, so it’s a good investment if you’re looking to get into beekeeping as a serious hobby or even as a sideline business.
As I said earlier, the most important thing is that the frames in the nuc are fully drawn out. The bees won’t use undrawn frames, so you’ll need to replace them with drawn frames if the nuc you receive contains undrawn frames. This is a good thing to ask your supplier about when you’re ordering your nuc. You’ll usually be fine if you order your nuc in late spring or early summer, but if you order your nuc too early, you may receive undrawn frames.
Finally, I want to talk about the queen bee. The queen bee will be included in your nuc, and she’ll be in a queen cage. The queen cage is a small cage with a screen on one side of it. This screen is what keeps the workers from killing the queen.
The queen cage will have a candy plug on one end of it. Over the course of a week or so, the workers will eat through the candy plug and release the queen. This gives the workers time to get used to her scent, and by the time she’s released, they’ll accept her as their queen.
The reason why this candy plug is used instead of just letting the queen free is that if the queen was released too early, the workers would kill her, as they haven’t had time to get used to her scent.
To release the queen, all you need to do is to remove the cork that’s plugging the candy end of the queen cage, and replace it with the provided metal nail. You then hang the queen cage in-between the frames like this, with the candy end of the queen cage facing downwards.
When you’re doing this, make sure that the metal nail is facing up. The reason for this is that you can then remove the metal nail by giving it a good twist downwards. If the metal nail was facing downwards, you wouldn’t be able to remove it by twisting it upwards, since it would simply get stuck in the wood of the frame.
So that’s it really. Now you know how many bees to expect in a nuc, and you’re ready to start beekeeping. Make sure to check out the rest of the posts in this beekeeping for beginners guide, to learn everything you need to know about getting started with beekeeping.