Easy 5-frame nuc plans

[Will O'Brien]

I think that is is very important to get your plywood for the product from Lowe's. It is much more appropriate for this use than the plywood from HD.

[NewbeeNnc]

Could it be your prefer one over the other because you live/work in the area where Lowe's Corporate is based?

[Kingfisher Apiaries]

Mr O'Brien, you want to raise sales at lowes? Lower prices. I do not go there anymore for lumber, I have found that I can save on average 25% buying from the local lumber yard. Sometimes more, depends on the product.

My .02

mike

[minz]

Found I had a ½ sheet of ¾” plywood and a half sheet of ½” T1-11 laying around. I used the ¾ for the two ends and all of the rest from the thin T1-11. Freaked out a little when I found the bottom did not match the length of the sides so the photo’s posted really saved me. Started at noon, took lunch at 2 and still had both completed by 3:30.

Question: Lets rank the best location for the traps
• Hobby apple farm (10 miles away in agriculture)
• Right here by my bee yard on the 1 acre lot (where I have seen a swarm pass through before).
• Or at a friend of mine (closer in town with huge gardens).
I only had enough material for two traps.

[Jaseemtp]

I made several of these and opted to make a 3/4 inch hole for the entrance. Does this sound ok? I also made one with two 3/4 inch entrances. I wanted to post a pic but cant seem to figure it out.
Jason

[Shazam]

Decided to make up some 8 frame medium nucs. I'd been leaning that way, and started a thread to ask if the tendency to 5 frames in mediums had a purpose or was just a default as people were used to 5 frame deep nucs.

Adapted this setup and figured I'd put up the layout pics for folk. I didn't include the small edge/scrap pieces for the top. For some reason the software was having issues with them. I was planning to use foam for the top initially, but decided to do a layout with wood top, as its easier to do a top feeder with wood than foam I've found. Because of the wider dimensions you can only get 7 of them out of 2 sheets of ply, so not as efficient as the original design obviously. Drop the tops off and you can easily get four per sheet.

I've included images of the layout for folk, and set it up on 4 sheets of 4x4 as a # of folk indicated that's how they bring their plywood home.

Enjoy

http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/v...MedNuc1of4.png
http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/v...MedNuc2of4.png
http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/v...MedNuc3of4.png
http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/v...MedNuc4of4.png

Haven't built them out yet, but this should work dimensionally. I'll let folk know when I've actually built a set.

[Mike Tuggle]

I haven't built mine yet but I feel I have to post my view of the gross cutting plan. I think that if I start with a 4x8 sheet and have the lumber yard cut four 4x2 footers that will fit in the car. Here is how I think I will cut it.


I will cut it piece by piece, confirming my kerf losses. There should be plenty to spare for the small end pieces.

Mike

[tsmullins]

That is really cool! Thanks for sharing those plans.

Shane

[D Coates]

I made several of these and opted to make a 3/4 inch hole for the entrance. Does this sound ok? I also made one with two 3/4 inch entrances. I wanted to post a pic but cant seem to figure it out.
Jason

I didn't use a hole to ensure I didn't have birds or rodents trying to set up a nest in there. Thety did that to me with the cardboard nucs I used originally.

Minz,

I find the best place to put my traps is a place where there are known colonies. I'm not always successful though.

[propet12]

I made several of these and opted to make a 3/4 inch hole for the entrance. Does this sound ok? I also made one with two 3/4 inch entrances. I wanted to post a pic but cant seem to figure it out.
Jason

I've had mice move into swarm traps 10 feet off the ground. I cover all my swarm trap openings with 1/2" hardware cloth.

[Jaseemtp]

ok, so the holes are bad ideas, but I will get some hardware cloth tomorrow for them. I have painted all 20 of them now and letting them air out. I was looking at setting them out as traps around the first part of March.
I am kinda stuck though since I do not know where any "wild" hives are.
Jason

[Shazam]

Well, one thing you can do is contact animal control or its equiv where you are and ask if they get many swarm calls and how they handle them. Also if there is an area they tend to come from mostly. That's a start. From there you could have them steer some calls to you so you don't need a trap but can use the boxes to put the swarms in. Also could do some beelining to look for wild hives.

[WPG]

Nice layout on cutting parts.

You don't have to have them cut the sheet into equal sizes.
You may have less waste with just two cuts at the lumberyard and still get it in your vehicle.
Try something like cutting off a piece 36"x48", then split the rest into a 30"x60" and 18"x60".
Adjust to fit your parts and vehicle.

[Quint Randle]

Just want to say thanks to DCoates and everyone on this thread. I am a total bozo when it comes to stuff like this. I was able to put together these nucs on Saturday. A fun project.

[propet12]

ok, so the holes are bad ideas, but I will get some hardware cloth tomorrow for them. I have painted all 20 of them now and letting them air out. I was looking at setting them out as traps around the first part of March.
I am kinda stuck though since I do not know where any "wild" hives are.
Jason

I prefer to think of placing swarm traps in terms of where the smell will go. I find likely places where bees will be in the Spring during swarm season and position the swarm traps where the smell of the swarm lure, lemongrass oil, old brood wax, etc. will be upwind from the bees. I put mine in light cover along natural pathways, pipe easements, edges of ponds, etc.

Great thread on Nuc boxes! Sorry for getting off topic.

[Solomon Parker]

Does anyone have the link to those round metal entrance things? Somebody said they were at Kelley, but I can't find them.
Thanks.

[Shazam]

Here they are on Kelley's site. You can get plastic ones elsewhere for the same price roughly:

http://www.kelleybees.com/CMS/CMSPag...5-0bb9ab9cbef0

[Shazam]

Nice layout on cutting parts.

You don't have to have them cut the sheet into equal sizes.
You may have less waste with just two cuts at the lumberyard and still get it in your vehicle.
Try something like cutting off a piece 36"x48", then split the rest into a 30"x60" and 18"x60".
Adjust to fit your parts and vehicle.

I did a test with full sheets and similar amount of waste. Can't get 4 8 frame medium nucs per sheet. Now, undoubtedly there is a sweetspot out there where with enough sheets you can get a highly efficient pack, but I'm not going to be making so many nuc :P

The other thing is that I may actually lay it with enough edging to try and just run them out on a friend's CNC, though truthfully I think that's only worth it if I plan to do a bunch as it isn't really that much work to cut out one set manually

[kchendershott]

Thank you so much! I want some nucs this year and my hubby was dragging his feet with the "I don't have the right tools" song. Even he could make these in a jiffy with his tools!

[Shazam]

Two quick things.

1. Thanks to D Coates for this thread. Outside the 'post your bloom dates' threads, this is the most viewed thread on this subforum. Its been viewed as much as many of the Beekeeping 101 threads. So kudos on a great and valued contribution

2. Since someone asked a question about more efficiently using the plywood for the 8 frame medium nuc layout, I decided to play around a bit. So instead of 7 8 frame medium nucs out of 2 sheets of ply, here is a layout for 8 nucs: six 8 frame mediums, and two 5 frame mediums. Its also out of 2 sheets of ply, and cut down to 4x4. No significant improvement in packing by going to full 4x8 sheets and 4x4 seems to be more accessible for many hobbyists. It has the added benefit that 2 of the 4 sheets are identical which should make cutting even simpler. The sides are interchangeable between the 8 and 5 frames. The rest of the parts are prefaced with an 8fr or 5fr to differentiate them.

http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/v...MedNuc1of3.jpg
http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/v...MedNuc2of3.jpg
http://i691.photobucket.com/albums/v...MedNuc3of3.jpg