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Easy 5-frame nuc plans

219K views 258 replies 119 participants last post by  jkellum 
#1 · (Edited)
Here are plans and measurements for nucs I make. I think they are simple and you can make 4 five-frame nucs out of one 4' x 8' sheet of 15/32 plywood that sells for +/-$10 at Lowes or Home Depot. I use them for swarm traps, queen breeding nucs, and I overwinter nucs in them. I also leave the bottom off of some to stack on other nucs to make 10 frame nucs. I use thin 1 1/4 inch nails, titebond III glue, and I paint them to ensure I get many years of service out of them.

http://s196.photobucket.com/albums/aa190/Drew454/Nuc plans/
 
#95 ·
Ok, DCoates,

Somewhere in some little cubicle office some nerd ordering guy is sitting there wondering why all of a sudden there has been this big rush on 15/32 sheets of plywood!!!

I bought two sheets yesterday and built 4 boxes out of the first one last night while my wife was watching two episodes of Private Practice.

SO EASY!!!

And I have wanted some of these for so long but thought it would take a lot of money and time!

I'd like to know how many of these Nucs have been built this spring since you posted this thread!

Three thoughts.....

1) I bought #4 galvanized nails and had some splitting. I am going to try to find some #3 galvanized nails today.

2) I can see where (if you were going to build a BUNCH of these) it would make things so much easier to nail the sides to the bottom to build a box just a LITTLE smaller than the finished box so you could just lay everything on top of and to the side of the guide box to keep things square.

3) I set my table saw for the correct width and cut the entire sheet as a rip for the widths designated by Ben Brewcat in post #36 of this thread. Maybe my saw blade is a little wide giving me extra wide kerfs (see, I learned something! I didn't know what a kerf was), but I didn't have the 1 7/8 inch strip left over. I only had 1 3/4 and not even the little scrap he shows. It worked ok, though because the 1 7/8 strip has lots of room to give.

Fuzzybeekeeper
 
#97 ·
D,

All I can say is with as busy as I have been around here chasing swarms, I'm glad you posted these plans. Hell, I barely got them built, I didn't even get to paint them yet and now I have to build more, guess that's why the weather is crappy right now. Slow down the swarms til I get more equipment built, I have 2 hives, 2 nucs ready, but need frames, bought 85 week ago and just have not had the time to build them.
So thanks again, I'll raise my next pint in your honor.

Craig
 
#99 · (Edited)
I'm sincerely glad that those who have used these plans have enjoyed those nucs as much as I have. I felt the simplicity allowed for novice woodworkers like myself to inexpensively make them and modify them for their personal preferences.

I just transfered one of my overwintered nucs out of one of those into a drawn deep that has a full but queenless split underneath them for a newspaper combine over lunch. I've now got 8 of these nucs ready for swarm season as catch boxes, swarm traps, and queen mating nucs. I think I've got 14 of them now with 4 currently occupied. Here's hoping for a good swarm season (not out of my hives though;))

Personally, I like to put them just inside brush lines. I like for them to be in the about 6 to 7 foot off the ground and in the shade the majority of the time
 
#101 ·
built 8 last weekend used 3/8" sheathing $12.28 per sheet used tite bond 3 glue and 1" 18ga staples and per someones idea from another thread painted "end" wood with tite bond 3 painting now had to adjust bottoms to 8 1/4" wide

turned out great


!!!!!!!!!THANKS FOR THE GREAT PLAN !!!!!

also the layout post

David
 
#104 ·
I would increase depth of nuc to give 1" clearance under frames. If you use these to move frames with queen cells into, the cells often are on bottom edge and extend bellow frame 1/2 to 3/4 inch. If you only have 3/8 bee space you destroy queen cell.

Johnny
 
#111 ·
I too was wondering about this space issue that Johnny brought up... could anyone that has built and used the nucs so far talk a little about it? I am getting ready to build some this winter and can easily built them either way. What do you think about Johnny's suggestion?
 
#106 ·
Thanks for the Plans. :) :thumbsup:
There has been some discussions about using a bottom board or not for stacking and whether it will take the weight. Could you just use a hole saw and put some holes in the bottom to let the bees move to that box? Keeping the scrap holes or using some metal to cover the holes when you wanted to use it as a standalone?

Anyway. again Thanks.
 
#108 ·
I went to Lowes yesterday and bought one 4x8 sheet and had them cut it into 3 sections 32" wide. They didn't charge anything for the cuts. I have a small hatchback so it's the only way.

I got 4 medium nucs made out of those with wood left over in case I made a mistake cutting, etc.. Easy to handle on the table saw with a small piece of plywood 32" x 48".

Great plans!!
 
#115 ·
Damaged queen cells on bottom of frames

Making the nucs deeper makes sense. Here in this video that I was watching on youtube the other day, the beekeeper removes a frame with (6) queen cells on it. He discovers that in the process of removing the frame, (5) of the queen cells were destroyed.

The video is rather lengthy, but if you move ahead to 19:15 in it, you will see where he finds the damaged cells.

I thought this might aid in the discussion on this matter. I am am new at beekeeping, and happened upon this segment in my quest to learn more about beekeeping.

Hope it helps!
 
#119 ·
I make mine all medium depth, if I made them an extra inch deep, it would be annoying when I grow the nuce to two or three deep. Having some rims, as suggested, sounds better, but hardly seems necessary. I rarely, if ever, use natural queen cells that I leave on the bottom edge of frames - I predominantly use cultured queen cells I raise myself. It sounds like that extra space would create queen cell protrusion problems rather than solve them. How can these kind of queen cells be grown if the space for them weren't there in the first place?

I especially like nucs made with these plans, because by using 15/32" plywood nucs I can offer my customers the nuc in its own box for transport (with a piece of screen stapled on top), at a very reasonable price. This also reduces queen damage that can sometimes occur after transferring to a mostly empty hive with many new frames, then immediately transporting them.
 
#120 ·
I always make mine deeper. Just b/c a new frame fits does not automatically guarantee that an older slightly warped frame with burr comb will not touch the bottom, and that new queen will not be on the bottom bar :eek:
So, I make mine with 1/2-3/4 space on the bottom. My end on my nuc is 10.5 inches long. I also run the frame dado (or with this plan the end block a little shorter) a little deeper so that I can get a patty on the top bars.'

mike
 
#154 ·
NewbeeNnc, It is not at all that I prefer one over the other because I live/work in the area where Lowe's Corporate is based. Not at all...It is that I prefer one over the other because I work FOR the one. :)

I am in our Wilkesboro offices on Thursdays if you would like to meet for lunch one day it would be nice to meet another beekeeper.
 
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