I sell both packages and nucs (over 500 nucs a year), so have no reason to
argue for one or the other.  As others have correctly pointed out, there
are pros and cons to each.

For the rank beginner, the pros of a package are that watching it draw comb
and grow is wonderful, and you start with fairly "clean" bees and all new
equipment.  And the newbee's experience can grow with the colony.  But
there are also more problems in packages with queen loss or failure,
feeding, etc.

A nuc (being an established colony with brood) is a surer start, and more
likely to produce honey the first season.  With a good nuc, there are
typically fewer problems.  The problem is that it seems that a lot of
beekeepers sell junk in their nucs--I keep hearing horror stories.

We personally pride ourselves on our nucs, and have a market that exceeds
our ability to supply.  I'm in no way trying to pitch for more business (we
are already nearly sold out for 2016), but have suggestions for what
constitutes a top quality nuc.

All combs should be relatively new, scraped and cleaned of burr comb and
drone brood, straight, and of good appearance.

All frames should be well covered with adult bees, and there should be at
least one comb of honey in case of poor weather.

All combs should be relatively new--no old, black, rubbery combs.

The combs should be relatively free of pesticide and miticide residues.  We
do so by avoiding non-organic agriculture, other than the exposure of our
colonies to some fungicides in almonds, and by having a history of no use
of synthetic miticides.

The supplier should not have a history of prophylactic treatment with
antibiotics for brood disease, since this may result in suppression of
signs of AFB.

The queen should be well raised and mated, and there should be at least two
frames of *sealed* brood from the new queen to demonstrate that she lays a
good pattern, and is well settled into productivity (this means that the
producer needs to hold nucs for a long enough period before sale for the
queen to prove herself).  We do not sell any nuc if the brood pattern is
not beautiful or if there is any sign of disease.

Each nuc should have been treated to reduce varroa to a very low level.

There should be a no questions asked replacement policy for any nuc that
develops a problem (we get about one a year, usu. due to the buyer killing
the queen during transfer).


-- 
Randy Oliver
Grass Valley, CA
www.ScientificBeekeeping.com

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