Volume of mini mating nucs

[WVbeekeeper]

what's the luaun for? is it just to give the bees a place to cluster on when they move up?

[Chef Isaac]

Yup. You are right!

[WVbeekeeper]

Thanks everyone for the input. I kinda figure there would be more replies seeing how many people there are on here that raise queens. Anyway, Ive made some of the mini nucs I designed and I think they will be just fine. They are really versatile and are made to get the comb drawn easily. I'll post some pics before too long.

[JBJ]

We like 3 three frame nucs in a in a western box with standard frame sizes. This way all frames are easily interchangeable with all hives, and with the larger volume it is easier to keep the nucs long term sustainable. There is a trade off of having more bees to look through to find the queens, but the greater brood area (& longer harvest interval) allows a better assessment of the queens quality.