A 10-frame May nuc, ready for its new owner, atop the Snelgrove hive it was produced on. New concept? Just ask me.
My Nuc Story
Here’s how I produce Spring Nucs and why I do it that way, sustainably. I started keeping bees in 2005 and since then I’ve never had to buy bees or queens. I’ve always raised my own here on the south edge of Bellingham, WA. In 2010 I began working with a strain of Carniolan-style bees that seemed well suited to Whatcom County conditions. I’m still selectively breeding that stock for best performance in Whatcom County conditions and offer 10-frame nucs for sale every spring.
These are true local nucs and are produced and sold differently than commercial nucs imported from out-of-state. When buying bees, be sure to ask where they came from, especially the queens. There’s a significant advantage to truly locally raised bees that have been bred for local conditions over many generations. You want to be sure that’s what you’re getting.
Beekeeping is complex and requires significant preparation and study to achieve any kind of success. I like my bees to go to beekeepers who are well prepared to care for them. With that in mind, I try to be as candid as possible with my students and customers. It’s not always what they want to hear! Keeping bees is a wonderful experience, but it requires more work and expense than many new beekeepers are expecting. If you’re good with challenges, you might be good with bees.
My nucs are ready for sale in late-May and early June, depending on spring weather. They’re 10-frame colonies featuring queens from my 16-year selective breeding campaign based specifically on Whatcom County beekeeping conditions. I use Snelgrove Boards to make spring splits, which reliably produces beautiful 10-frame nucs. A bit later in the season I may have a few 5-frame nucs, the products of swarm-prevention splits.
All the brood in these nucs comes from the new queen raised in that nuc. The bees are all from that new queen’s mother. The combs have all been drawn by the parent colony. These are features you only get with truly local nucs. These are “Carniolan-ish,” dark bees, marked bright orange for high visibility. I don’t release nucs until they are operating robustly and the queens are laying at a high rate.
My breeding program selects for reliableoverwintering, gentleness and rapid spring build-up. I select for an achievable but limited range of beneficial traits that enhance colony performance in Whatcom County beekeeping conditions. Selecting too broadly can result in the loss of desirable traits.
Most years I can prevent all swarms, so I don’t breed specifically for low swarm impulse Yes, Carniolans are slightly more “swarmy” than some other subspecies, but that’s a small price to pay for their many other admirable qualities. To succeed at beekeeping, a good understanding of swarming and how to control it is a necessity.
I keep bees for fun and my Carniolan-ish bees are pleasant to work with. They are “polite,” get out of the way when you are working in the hive. They build reasonable sized colonies able to reliably survive our long winters. I dislike working with Italian-style bees that are constantly under your fingers and make huge hives that often don’t survive winters. I like scrappy bees that make my goal of sustainable local beekeeping possible.
These are true local nucs, raised entirely in Whatcom County for our unique beekeeping conditions. Building these nucs takes time and decent spring weather, which places availability in late-May, not mid-April when imported out-of-state nucs and packages begin to appear in the area. Patience pays. The reality is that few out-of-state colonies thrive or even survive their first season.
I aim to provide robust, locally-bred nucs fully ready to capitalize on the June blackberry flow. With that nutritional boost, the colony will reach sufficient size to over-winter successfully. The following spring you’ll split the hive in mid-April with expectations of a decent honey harvest in the summer.
Locally bred bees produce better outcomes. My nucs, well cared for in sound Langstroth equipment, will thrive in most conditions Whatcom County has to offer. They produce reliable honey crops and over-winter well. I’ve had no incidence of the common bee diseases in my yards, thanks to robust stock and apiaries located far away from commercial agriculture and commercial beekeeping. However, I do treat regularly and effectively for Varroa mites. No bees are immune to mites, so it’s essential to practice an effective method for controlling them. To learn how, consider taking my spring beekeeping class!
My Nuc Deal: You bring me a complete 10-frame Langstroth hive setup, filled with new wooden frames with black plastic foundation, specifically these Mann Lake assembled 9⅛” frames. We’ll inspect your nuc together so you’ll see exactly what you’re buying. When the nuc is ready, I’ll transfer the bees, queen and drawn frames into your equipment, keeping the new frames you brought. The nuc will be ready to pick up a few days later as I like to give the bees a few days to get used to their new home. I don’t sell my own wooden-ware as I have invested a lot of time and effort into making it just right for my purposes. Plus, I like to think my bees are going to well prepared beekeepers who have put thought and effort into their own equipment.
BEWARE: 10-frame spring nucs will need a second super almost by the time you get them home. Getting that 2nd super built up on the summer nectar flows is what makes sustainable beekeeping possible in Whatcom County.
