I am in the market for a nice 5 frame NUC box. Found a few on a web search but don't know which would be the best. I was thinking of going with the box Dadant supplies, mainly because they are down the road a few miles from me so no shipping. I want a good box but don't have the tools to make one myself. If you purchased a good one that actually fit together right let me know. Nice to hear from someone with first hand experience.
I like the Brushy Mountain 5 frame. It comes with an inner cover and telescoping cover so you can stack another box and use a pail feeder.....or add another 5 frame Nuc box if the bees expand fast.
I use Mann Lake for most of my supplies. Their NUC boxes are fine, but they do not have a queen excluder, inner cover or telescoping cover for a NUC :-/
Dadant does offer those accessories for the NUC hive. Only down side is that Dadant's equipment is about a quarter inch narrower than Mann Lake equipment so I don't like to interchange them. Go exclusively with Dadant and you will be fine. I have judged Mann Lake wood quality and fitment to be slightly better than the Dadant kits I've assembled this year.
I buy mind from Mann lake . I only buy the body,and make my bottoms,and tops. I believe that they are $9.50 a piece for the economy grade. What I really like about them is that when you clamp the four sides together the box is square. It is hard to beat their prices also. Yesterday I compared a few things that I need to the price of Kelly. Mann lake beat their price on everything. Their ritecell foundation is the closes thing to wax that I have found in plastic. I don't understand why small cell foundation is more expensive than regular foundation. I don't believe they offer small cell in the rite-cell foundation. I want to buy some frame feeders for my mating nucs. I like the one that Mann lake has that have the two ladders better than the lone Kelly offers. I have been pleased with the plastic tray top feeder that Mann lake carry. I believe their top feeder is $21.00.
I had the same question. I came to the conclusion way cheaper to build than to buy but I have tools so I made about 200 of them this winter. Got white pine for 70 cents a foot so I figured why not lol. When I did buy a few Mann Lakes worked really well, plus its free shipping if you order enough
I prefer the Brushy Mountain Nuc. Good quality, screened bottom, IPM board and inner cover. I've bought a few...all went together well.
I'm sure you will enjoy yours.
Here is a tip if you want a queen excluder to fit a nuc. All you have to do is cut a 10 frame plastic one in half. My nucs are 9" width, which means there is about 7.5 inches inner space.
It is easy enough to cut the excluder into 8 1/4 inches. This does not give a perfect fit on a 9" wide nuc, but allows you to get 2 excluders for the price of one. Alternatively, you can cut off a 9" strip and have a 7 1/4" piece left over to play with.
After checking most of the big name vendors, Brushy Mountain seems to have the most complete selection of 5-frame equipment. Their equipment is high quality, too.
However, I would consider buying from the vendor down the road. The savings on shipping costs would be substantial.
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