For what it's worth, a "5 frame nuc" means something different to me and 
would to a lot of other beekeepers around here (North Carolina).  When I 
talk about a "5 frame nuc," I'm talking about five frames, normally to be 
transferred to a 10-frame box.  I would ask to make sure, but if I was 
paying for a "5 frame nuc," I would expect five frames all mostly full of 
mostly capped brood, and I would expect them to be transferred into 
whatever I wanted to put them in.  In the springtime, especially, feed can 
be managed for; brood and bees are what I care about in the spring.  Drawn 
comb is valuable, of course, but I'm not going to pay much for somebody 
else's (old) drawn comb.  I count my nucs by the number of frames of brood: 
3 frames of brood and however many frames of whatever else is a 3 frame nuc 
in my book.

Eric

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