Started Package

Nervous about shaking a package of bees into your hive when you get home? Don’t be! Our started packages take the worry and awkwardness out of buying and installing a package of honey bees.

Our started package consists of 3 lbs of honey bees on 4 deep frames and a frame feeder in a 5 frame plastic Pro Nuc. We have a mated queen installed as well. We will be feeding them and the bees will have comb drawn on some of the frames. The queen will already be out of her cage walking on the frames and laying eggs! When you get to your bee yard simply place the Pro Nuc on the hive stand where you intend to place your 5 frame, 8 frame or 10 frame hive and open the entrance to the Pro Nuc. Next you need to start feeding them. You can use the frame feeder with 1:1 sugar syrup or the Pro Nuc has a couple places where you can simply use a soda bottle or Gatorade type bottle to put sugar syrup into for feeding the bees. This allows them to draw comb and feed the new larvas much faster.

After a week, simply open the Pro Nuc and take out the frames and install them into your new hive box. Then place the Pro Nuc on the ground below the entrance to the new hive. The remaining bees will detect their queens pheromones and go into the new hive.

Once the Pro Nuc is empty you can use it as a swarm trap. It can be used as a nuc box to make a split with. These plastic nucs can store extra frames for a variety of purposes. Also if you choose to haul home a nuc in the future you now have a travel container to bring them home in.