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CliffDale

House Bee
Joined
Mar 13, 2010
Messages
210
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0
Location
Cornwall uk
Hive Type
National
Number of Hives
8
I've got the choice of stocking hives with either a 5 frame nuc costing £120 or a full hive of bees for £230.

In both cases we are looking at early May.

Im stocking 2 hives, not sure what to go for?

spend £460?

Go for 1 nuc and 1 full hive
or
stick with buying 2 nucs?

What is the experienced opinion please?

Thanks

Cliff
 
I would go with two good strong nuc's at start of may,they should build up fast,and you learn more seeing them do so, being as you are just starting out yourself. But thats just my opinion.
 
Money is not really the problem here but I am looking for the sensible thing to do.


One consideration is that I would like to have some pots of honey by September. If I went for nucs would I make a few pounds of honey?

I would be so disappointed if I had no results this year

Cliff
 
Go for nucs. Full colonies in May will be ripe for swarming i.e. a handful, and if you don't manage them right you'll lose at least half the bees and the queens and be worse of than if you had nucs.
 
Money is not really the problem here but I am looking for the sensible thing to do.


One consideration is that I would like to have some pots of honey by September. If I went for nucs would I make a few pounds of honey?

I would be so disappointed if I had no results this year

Cliff

The nucs will be much easier to handle than full colonies, so I would go with them and let your experience grow with the nucs.

I bought a nuc at the end (31st) of May last year and it yielded 30lb of honey in September. We have a lot of Himalayan Balsam locally - obviously what you get will depend on your local nectar sources.
 
Hell Chris B 200 colonies and I'm going for 2!

Yes, I take your advice!

I am starting up so realise best to start small and build up.

Cliff
 
Get the nucs as suggested above. I started this way (with one), lost the queen mid-summer, raised another and still ended up with enough honey to give to friends and family at Christmas.

Hivemaker is spot on when he says that you'll learn more from watching the nucs build up. Possibly also more rewarding.

Have fun!
 
I agree with Hivemaker although don't expect to get too much honey if we have a repeat of last years weather.

This year I'm going for two packages and I don't expect to get much honey if any as I am looking to split each of them once and raise my own queens and several new colonies in TBH's.
 
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I've got the choice of stocking hives with either a 5 frame nuc costing £120 or a full hive of bees for £230.

In both cases we are looking at early May.

Im stocking 2 hives, not sure what to go for?

spend £460?

Go for 1 nuc and 1 full hive
or
stick with buying 2 nucs?

What is the experienced opinion please?

Thanks

Cliff

two early nuc and two good hives, your bees will live there for many years buy the best from a proper beekeeper not a store

many on here make hives so

PM hivemaker or Tom Bick they both have good reputations on their hives
 
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Thanks everyone.

When people are saying the same thing, it means a lot.

Sometimes a big argument flares up and lots have different opinions but not in this case, (yet).!

If a small nuc will yeild me some honey, sounds good to me.

Cliff
 
Cliff,

Remember, you may not get any crop from two full hives. It just depends on the year.

As the others say, 2 good nucs are probably enough for starters.

That said, I started with 4 colonies.

Early May? That could mean second week, by which time you may not have a nectar flow and immediately run into problems with a full colony, although probably OK in your neck of the woods.

Really, it does come down to your choice in the end. The more important thing, from my view-point, is that you are getting two colonies, not just the one.

Regards, RAB
 
As you are a beginner I would strongly endorse the two nucs.

If you were learning to cycle would you aim at the tour de France the same year? Hardly.

Full colonies can be shall we say politely a little daunting.

Far safer for you and the neighbourhood to start small and learn as you go.

Enjoy.

PH
 

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