> We haven't lost any nucs in wooden boxes in quite a few years.
> The load that had styrofoam boxes also had nucs in wooden boxes,
> and of about equal strength.

I think the problem here is that people are thinking that these plastic,
insulated nucs are equivalent to similarly sized wooden ones.  They are
not.  If they were, I don't know why anyone would spend the extra money.
The insulated, tightly closing nucs are are different from their
standard wooden cousin in that they are designed to be warmer and
tighter, so a beekeeper can do more with less.   Understanding that,
putting the same amount of bees and brood into them as similar wooden
nucs should seem like a bad idea.

I remember when I was filling package bees that one of my customers (who
was helping me fill packages) kept trying to put three pounds into a
two-pounder whenever I wasn't looking.  I finally explained to him that
a two-pound cage was designed for two pounds of bees and that a
three-pound cage was bigger for a very good reason.  I explained to him
that he was not only cheating me, but that he would wind up with nothing
when the bees burned up due to inadequate volume and screen area.  He
looked shocked, but I had no more problem with him.

In this current problem, the supplier's generosity is backfiring.
Rather than give up on plastic nucs, I think that the buyers and sellers
should rather decide to use fewer bees and brood and/or to use screened
lids.  If they do continue to pack the nucs with bees, the buyer will
need to transfer the bees out early, or they will plug up.

allen
http://www.honeybeeworld.com

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