How strong a 5 frame nuc should be really depends on when, where, and what
you want from the nuc. When you make the nuc...spring or mid-summer, where
you keep bees, and if you are trying to make honey, add to your numbers, or
overwinter the nuc as a nuc.
If I was to make up spring nucs from strong colonies...or buy spring nucs
from a producer, I would want a stronger unit. In that case, I would think
a nuc should have three frames well filled with brood in all stages, one
frame of honey/pollen, and one empty comb. Here, I'm talking nucs in a 5
frame nuc box. The empty comb is so the bees don't feel crowded, and start
swarm preparations. I'm also talking about nucs in my area of northern
Vermont. We have a short season. I imagine, that with a longer season,
where the bees have a longer time to build up for the flow, that the nucs
could be made weaker. If you make up the nucs in 10 frame equipment, then
you would, of course, have more empty comb space, and perhaps additional
honey/pollen combs. You could make up your own nucs with more brood, but
that would probably, at least in my area, be a waste of your resource. Nucs
with 3 frames of brood build up nicely, often storing 100 lbs of surplus
honey when made up on the Dandelion flow.
You can also make up mid-summer nucs. These can be over wintered, and are a
source for replacing winter losses, re-queening weak colonies early, and
making increase. They are started much weaker than spring made nucs. You
don't want them to build up into powerful, honey producing colonies.
Rather, they maintain a small broodnest...4 or 5 frames, depending on the
size of the nuc box...and winter in that condition. They must be started
with a small population of brood and bees. They are started with only 1 to
1 1/2 frame of brood, a frame on honey, and an empty comb. Made too strong,
they will swarm on the fall flow. The following spring, they range in
strength from nucs with 1 to 4 frames of brood, with the average being 2.5
to 3. They are way ahead of normal spring made nucs, and often go on to
make a large surplus crop...in fact, one I sold this year had only two
frames of brood at the start of the Dandelion flow, and went on to make 150
pounds surplus. A couple, with 3+ frames of brood, and exceptional queens,
in exceptional locations, made 240 pounds of surplus.
So, you can see that how strong a 5 frame nuc should be can vary. If I was
buying nucs, in nuc boxes, around the Dandelion flow time, I would expect
there to be 3 frames of brood, a frame of honey/pollen, and one empty comb.
Mike
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