Nucleus Installation

When purchasing bees as a nucleus from us, you will receive a new nucleus box with six combs on new frames. This consists of a minimum of four frames with brood, plus stores, and, especially if they have a long journey or will be several days before installation, a frame of foundation for expansion space.

The nucleus will be in a purpose-made polystyrene nucleus box and will contain brood in all stages, along with a young queen of the year (except for spring supply, which will have an overwintered queen from the previous summer), plus worker bees covering five or six frames.

These nuclei will expand very fast once they are with you, so you must be ready for immediate action. You will need to provide the hive and combs for them to move into. Initially, you need the full hive set: floor, brood box (with the number of frames required to go from the six that come in the nucleus up to a full box), feeder, crown board, and roof. It is recommended that all parts used are either new or have been carefully sterilised.

We recommend the following as the first stage of installation. Firstly, place the nucleus box on the exact position where you wish it to establish as a colony. Open the entrance a little and leave it to fly, settle, and become oriented to its new location. (If you do not plan to move them for several days, it may be good to feed them a little to help them settle.)

After a couple of days, you should move them into the full hive they are intended to occupy for the season. Set the nucleus aside and place the new hive on the stand, taking out all the frames. Then carefully transfer the contents of the nucleus into the new hive, one comb at a time. Be careful, as the queen will be running in the box with the bees. Keep the combs in exactly the same order as they were in the nucleus and centre them. If the nucleus has become crowded and is clearly in need of space, it is possible to ‘brood spread’, and experienced beekeepers often do this, but it is not necessary and can cause problems if done incorrectly. So, if these are your first nuclei, please stick to the recommended method.

Once you have transferred all the combs, fill the box with the extra frames. Carefully check the interior of the nucleus box in case the queen is still inside, and if so, gently place her in with the bees in the new hive. Shake any remaining bees out of the nucleus box, then close it up and place it far away from the new hive, as flying bees might return to it if it is nearby.

Place the feeder onto the hive and give them a modest feed. Simple 1:1 or 2:1 sugar syrup will suffice. After a few days, check that the feeder is empty, and look inside to see if the bees are expanding across onto the new frames. If so, you should remove the feeder and add a queen excluder and honey super.

From this point onward, the colony should become part of your normal management cycle, as expansion will be rapid, and early signs of splitting may occur. These bees will really motor, so please stay on top of their needs.

When ordering nuclei from us, please ensure you are ordering the correct type. We ONLY offer National, Smith, or Langstroth. The Smith variant fits okay into a National—it’s the same frame size in all respects except for the length of the lug. All frames used by us are our normal pre-wired type, as visible on our site, and they are perfectly compatible in the hive with the usual UK types.

Any defects must be reported to us immediately. We only accept liability up to the point of live handover and not for any issues arising from poor installation methods. If you encounter problems, please let us know, and we can advise.