Beekeeping
Made Easy
Making
money producing a few nuc's
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Nuc's
Often beekeepers ask how to make money with bees.
Usually the answer is honey production. However, many beekeepers have
found a ready market for a few nuc's in their own community.
Since many people begin beekeeping each year, they are always looking for a way
to get bees. If you are interested in selling bees, nuc's are an
easy way to get into the business. You may even find that you would
like to increase the number of nuc's you produce in the future.
How to produce nuc's. [Sounds like nuke]
Things you must decide on or have prior to making up
a nuc for sale.
- Make sure you have good strong hives of bees
- Make sure you have a queen purchased for each nuc you
will make up.
- Decide how the customer will pick up the nuc and in what
kind of box. There are several choices you can make.
- How many frames will go into your nuc?
- When will your nuc's be ready for the customer?
Nuc's should be made up of deep frames from strong hives of
bees. Any nuc sold no matter how many frames in it (3 - 4- 5 frame nuc)
should have at least 2 frames of brood. At the minimum you should have one
frame of honey. You will also add to the brood and bees a new queen and
introduce her in the same manner as you would introduce a queen to a full size
hive. The following arrangements are suggested:
Three frame nuc:
Just
because this is only three frames doesn't mean it should have a lot less bees
than a four frame nuc. You will need enough bees to cover the brood on the
two brood frames completely otherwise, you may have some chilled brood (dead
brood due to cold) because there were not enough bees to cover the brood.
This requires about two pounds of bees. The one frame of honey and pollen should
be able to hold the nuc for food stores while the nuc is in the three frame
box. The frame with honey must be always set to the outside rather
than between the two frames of brood.
Four frame Nuc
The
four frame nuc is a better nuc to sell or buy than the three frame nuc.
First, it is going to hold more bees than the three frame nuc and second, it has
a greater supply of pollen and honey. It should have about 2 1/2 pounds of
bees. This extra supply of honey is important if the nuc is put together
early in the spring. Please note: The brood frames are always
kept together to give the bees the best opportunity to keep the brood warm.
Five Frame Nuc
The
best nuc is a five frame nuc. It contains about three pounds of bees and
three frames of brood. This nuc will increase in population very quickly
and thus brings a price greater than package bees or any of the 3 or 4 frame
nucs.
Once the choice of nuc size is determined, the task is to
select the hives from which frames will be taken to make up the nuc.
Use only strong healthy hives.
You could be held responsible for selling AFB with your nuc if the new hive
should be inspected and found to have developed AFB. You do not want
that reputation!
Remove the frames and check for the queen
of the parent hive. You do not want to accidentally move her to the
nuc. Once the queen is located (place the frame she is on in a spare nuc
box so you will not accidentally lose her), you can begin selecting the frames
you will place into the nuc. Frames of brood should be fairly solid with
honey toward the top of the frame and pollen just below (That is ideal).
Also locate the number of frames of honey you will add to the nuc.
Now, before adding any frames to the nuc, take several frames from the hive you
will not be using in the nuc but loaded with bees and shake the bees from them
into the box of the nuc. Add the brood frames with bees to the center of
the box. Finally, add the frame or frames of honey and bees to the box.
You will still need to close up the parent
hive. Take the frame with the queen from the spare nuc and put it into the
center of the space left vacant from the removed frames. Add other
frames with brood next to the center frame. Now add new frames of
foundation or drawn frames to the outside of the brood chamber. This
hive should rebuild nicely within two weeks if it was strong when you took
frames from it.
Nuc's made up as described above do not have to be held for
a long period of time. Once the frames and bees have been removed
from the parent hive and placed into the nuc, the nuc will need to be moved to
another location to prevent the older bees from leaving and returning to the
parent hive (two miles is suggested or more). A new queen still in
her queen cage is introduced to the bees in the nuc either before it is moved or
after it is moved. If it is installed before the move, you will need to
check to make sure the queen cage did not drop to the floor of the nuc (this
will result in a dead queen if the weather gets cold).
Generally, two days after the nuc is made up, you will need
to go back to the nuc's to check on the queen. If she has been released
from her cage, remove the cage and close up the nuc for several more
days. If the queen was not released, release her.
Close up the nuc and do not open it up for another couple of days.
Make sure the new queen is laying
A check of the nuc is usually made two or
three days after the queen cage is removed from the nuc. This should
be five or six days after the nuc is made up. It is very important
the queen has been accepted and laying eggs. It is nice if the queen
is marked so you can find her easily and your new beekeeper customer can find
her as well. If you find that the queen was not accepted by the
bees, you will need to get a queen to go into the nuc. After
the second queen is installed and before the nuc is sold, you will need to add
more bees to the nuc and exchange a frame of brood for a new full frame of
brood.
Getting the nuc to the customer
If you use homemade nuc boxes to put your frames into, the
entire box and frame might be sold to the customer. However, many
beekeepers like to keep the nuc boxes and reuse them. One way
to handle this is to charge a deposit for the replacement of the nuc box and
when the customer returns the box, you can return the deposit. If
they don't return, you pocket the deposit. Entrances to the nuc box
or hive body described below need to be shut with a wire screen to allow for
ventilation or the bees could die from too much heat during the trip home.
Others, like to have the customer bring the hive body the
nuc will be put into with them, and helps the customer put the nuc into the new
hive box along with the new frames, etc. The customer can then haul
the new hive home.
What price to charge?
To be fair to yourself, don't sell too cheap.
You deserve something for your labor and bees. Lets take a look at
your expenses:
- Queen --- A queen can cost from
$8.00 to $15.00. You need to shop around. You get
discounts when you buy 10 or more from most queen breeders.
- Frames --- I generally think of a frame with
drawn foundation being worth at least $2.00 and more if the frame includes
good drawn foundation.
- Bees --- A two pound
package of bees delivered can cost from $38.00 to
$50.00 A three pound package can cost from $43.00 to
$55.00. If you buy packages with queens, you eliminate the queen
cost listed above. Then again, you are using your own bees so you
should charge at least as much for the bees and queen as the package
producers are charging for packages.
- A box -- If you are selling the
box along with the bees, you need to charge for it. It is possible to
buy cardboard boxes ($3.00 or so each), buy them ($20.00 or so), or
build them ($5.00 or so). If you are building them, cost will
depend on your material cost and time needed to put them together.
So lets take a few minutes to look at price structure:
A nuc will need : 1
queen, two to three pounds of bees, frames with brood and honey,
and a box. You will add labor (estimate -- two nuc's an hour).
Sample price for producing a three frame
nuc: Five frame nuc:
Queen
$
12.00
$12.00
Frames
$
6.00
$10.00
Bees
$
30.00
$45.00
Labor
$
10.00
$10.00
Total
$
58.00
$77.00
Plus the box depending on how you sell your bees.