Karla, both you and Allen have made good points.  Here in the middle of NYS, I have seen far too many failed nucs this year, and at the same time we currently have a great source of good packages (Betterbee).  So my thinking has been shifting towards packages for newbees.  As I mentioned before, there are a lot of advantages to packages aside from the fact that they arrive without old "rotated out" brood comb.  But I acknowledge that packages aren't of dependable quality, just as nucs in different locals and from different suppliers are of different quality.

It's always "buyer beware", and the first recommendation to anyone starting out with bees should be to join a club and get a mentor.

Thanks for all the viewpoints.

Christina

             ***********************************************
The BEE-L mailing list is powered by L-Soft's renowned
LISTSERV(R) list management software.  For more information, go to:
http://www.lsoft.com/LISTSERV-powered.html