What is an overwintered nucleus colony?
You might be hearing this a lot at the moment – you should start beekeeping with an overwintered colony of bees. In this blog, I am going to explain exactly what an overwintered colony of bees is, why they are good for starting you on your beekeeping journey, but also why the summer nucs might be a better idea for you if it’s your first year of beekeeping.
What is a nucleus colony?
Let’s start with the basics. A nucleus colony is at the heart of the every single thriving colony of bees. It’s made up off all of the components required to start a colony from scratch and SHOULD contain all of the following elements:
Mated Queen Bee: Without a properly mated queen bee, honey bees cannot survive. All nucleus colonies will contain a properly mated bee. She should be marked with the correct colour for the season and the beekeeper should ensure she is properly mated before sending your nucleus colony.
Brood In All Stages (BIAS): Brood in all stages is just a fancy way of saying eggs, larvae and pupae of differing ages. It’s the sign of a properly mated queen. You want to see nice cylindrical or oval shaped brood patterns, with no spotty brood patterns on any of the frames. You should expect at least 3-4 frames of BIAS in your nucleus colony.
Frames of Stores: Within a nucleus colony for sale, you should expect 1 or 2 frames of stores. These can either be capped or uncapped and these are very simply the food source for the bees until they are able to expand and gather enough stores to create their own surplus.
Bees: There should be enough bees to comfortably cover all of the frames of brood and stores within the nucleus. It doesn’t need to be overflowing and this can result in issues if there are too many bees in the nucleus on arrival, but all frames should have some bees on when you open it up.
Disease: A nucleus colony should contain no disease whatsoever and should have been thoroughly inspected by the beekeeper prior to dispatch. At Black Mountain Honey, all nucs are checked by a DASH approved inspector prior to dispatch to our customers.
Poly/Correx/Wooden Nucleus Box: All nucleus colonies for sale will arrive in a container to house the bees. For mail order nucs, they are generally sent in correx or poly as they travel through the postal system a little bit better. Our preference at Black Mountain Honey is to send our bee nucs for sale in Poly as they are better insulated from extreme temperatures, which means the bees arrive in a better condition.
What does a good nucleus colony look like?
There are LOTS of nucleus colonies for sale on the market but not all are equal! Here are some top tips to look out for when buying your first nucleus colony:
Type of queen: The mated queen bee in your nucleus will dictate the characteristics of your colony of bees. Ideally, you want nice calm placid bees and by ensuring the queen comes from a line of quality genetics, in the first generation, this will provide you with the best start to your beekeeping hobby. At Black Mountain Honey, all of our queens are mated in Wales and reared from a Pure F0 Buckfast Breeder queen. This means you are getting the absolute best quality F1 Buckfast queens the UK has to offer. Calm, placid, prolific and a pleasure to be around. Check out some of our reviews HERE.
Number of frames: Nucleus colonies generally come in either a 5 or 6 frame format. The extra frame in a 6 frame nucleus represents a 20% increase in bees and brood. Factor this into your consideration when looking at the prices. The extra frame really helps with a rapid spring build up, especially if it’s an extra brood frame that’s included.
Type of box: Overwintered nucs are generally sent in a poly nuc or a correx box. A correx box is a disposable container used to ship nucs. It costs around £10-12 and doesn’t have much use in the apiary. A poly nuc is a valuable piece of apiary equipment for swarm management and can cost between £60-£70. Again factor this into your price calculations and always request your bees to be sent in a permanent poly nucleus. The poly nucs tend to do way better in the post as they are able to insulate against the effect of extreme temperature fluctuations
Type of frames: Ensure your nucleus arrives on self-spacing frames (DN4 National or Standard Langstroth). This makes inspections so much easier and it avoids any guesswork on frame spacing in the brood box. It also means the frames are less likely to shake in the postal service.
Condition of frames: This is a pet hate of mine. Do not accept dark, damaged or inferior frames in your nucleus colonies. Brood frames have a limited life span of around 3 seasons and require regular replacement due to the colour and cocoons that are built within the cells. Some beekeepers use the sale of nucs as a way of replacing their frames on a regular basis. This is bad practice and you shouldn’t accept it. At Black Mountain Honey, the frames we use in the overwintered nucs are brand new, with new foundation, in the season they are made. This means when they arrive with the customer, they are clean, bright and less than 12 months old. DO NOT ACCEPT BLACK FRAMES.
Why should you buy an overwintered colony?
An overwintered nucleus colony is often preferred as it means that the nucleus was made up in the previous season. The queen is proven in her ability to make it through the winter and will make a very fast start in the spring.
Overwintered nucleus colonies are always in high demand and often sell out before the beekeeping season begins. At Black Mountain Honey, we generally sell out of overwintered nucs by January/February each year, so it’s a good idea to place your deposit as early as possible – you can buy our overwintered nucs HERE.
An overwintered colony is recognisable by a marked queen from the previous year. Check out the queen year nomenclature in the chart below.
As overwintered nucs get off to such a fast start in the spring, they can expand to fill your beehives in no time at all. This means you are likely to get a bumper honey crop if the weather plays ball. However, this can bring about its own unique set of problems
Why a spring/summer nuc might be a better idea?
For people starting out in their first beekeeping season, an overwintered nuc might not be the best idea. A summer nuc might actually be beneficial to learn how to keep bees more effectively.
The only difference between the spring/summer nucs and the overwintered nucs is the date in which the queen is mated. In overwintered nucs, the queen is around 1 year old when the nuc is sent to the customer. In Spring/Summer nucs, she is around 12 weeks old and the nuc is made up in the current season. We make up our spring nucs in April and start sending them out after two cycles of brood, towards the end of May.
So why might an overwintered nuc not be best for a novice beekeeper? Overwintered nucs are so turbocharged that as they are sent out so early, they build up quickly and are liable to swarm in the first season. Now for professionals, this is a good thing. It means more bees and more honey if managed correctly using proven swarm management techniques.
But, for a novice, losing a swarm in the first year is a very difficult process to manage. Once the colony swarms, the bees are at risk of sending out further cast swarms and then in order to fix the problem, the beekeeper must find a number of tiny, unmarked virgins before killing them and fixing the colony with a mated queen bee (which you can BUY HERE at BMH). It can end in a failed colony that doesn’t make it through the winter.
This process is difficult for even experienced beekeepers but it’s nearly impossible for novice beekeepers. So how to prevent it? Avoid overwintered nucs and opt for a spring/summer nucs instead. Swarming is at its worst between April – June. If a colony reaches critical mass and hits the walls/ceiling before the summer equinox, it’s likely to swarm.
Our overwintered nucs are delivered early in the season but our spring/summer nucs are sent later, between end of May – middle of June. This means by the time the spring/summer nuc is introduced and starting to build up, the summer equinox has pasted and the days are beginning to get a little bit shorter. What this means is that, so long as you provide the nucleus colony with enough space to expand and store honey, the chances of swarming are significantly reduced.
For a novice beekeeper, avoiding swarming in the first year is crucial. It gives you a chance to get used to your bees and understand the basics, before having to deal with advanced swarm management processes or even worst, post swarm manipulations. It also gives a good chance of a reasonable honey crop by the end of the year as the bees are more likely stay put.
What can you expect from Black Mountain Honey nucs?
Whether you buy an overwintered or a spring/summer nuc from Black Mountain Honey, you can rest assured that you are getting a quality nucleus of bees perfectly suited to a beginner beekeeper. Our nucs for sale are calm, placid, gentle, prolific and are bred to resist swarming, as long as they are given enough space.
Our nucs are always sent on new, self-spacing frames and come in a 6 frame variant. We always send our nucs in Paynes Poly nucs as they transport through the postal system so well. We also offer dedicated support via our YouTube channel, live stream, WhatsApp, text message and email. We are here to help if you ever need us or have any questions about your bees.
How to introduce a nucleus colony?
If you have bought a nucleus colony and are wondering how to get prepared to introduce your colony, check out this video which details the full process on how to introduce your nucleus colony to a beehive.
