[T's Bees]

Is it too late to buy nucs (not order, but take possession of)?

If you did buy nucs now, would you re-hive them or leave them in the 5-frame boxes?

What might be some of the risks/perils of taking nucs now?

Thanks in advance.

 

[Michael Bush]

It's difficult to get a nuc through the winter. If you want to try, I would leave them in the five frame box. Feed them all winter. If you can find a way to mitiage the really cold spells it would probably be helpful. Perhaps a 25 watt appliance bulb underneath?

 

[rweakley]

Being in missouri my experience might not be applicable to the colder regions, but last year I got (probably dumb luck) a nuc sized cluster and stores through the winter in a 1 deep. I didn't have a Nuc to put them in nor did I know at the time that giving them less room was better. What I did do was take a clean spray bottle and filled it up with 1:1 or even a little stronger sugar water (at times I did as thick as would spray) and occassionally on a warm day in the winter I would fill up some comb by spraying the feed into the comb. The sugar/newspaper method is probably easier, but this other way worked for me. I'm doing some of this now to help strengthen some nucs before winter now. when winter hits I'll probably go ahead and put a piece of newspaper above the bars and put some sugar on there.

 

[Joseph Clemens]

As far as I know most nucs are sold without boxes, just the 5 frames of bees and queen to install into your own equipment. "Southern Oregon", are you near the coast, inland, or in the mountains?

 

[T's Bees]

I live inland, not too high elevation.

Some folks in the area let you keep the boxes for a short period and return them later. "Short period" is negotiable.