Nuc / Packages
3 Pound Packages
Are 3 pound of bees with a young, mated queen. The beekeeper can put them in any style of hive (Top Bar Hive, Langstroth Hive, Observation Hive...). Package bee must be fed sugar syrup as soon as they are hived until they stop feeding on the syrup because they are building from scratch. Package bees are less expensive then Nucs, but they are not as established as a nuc and do not have the brood, so package bees require more time before baby bees begin to emerge to replenish the older foragers.
5 Frame Nucs
Are 5 deep frames of bees, brood, honey, and pollen. A young, mated queen is laying in the nuc. The beekeeper can put them in a deep hive body of a Langstroth hive. Nucs are splits made from established colonies. Combs from an existing colony are place in a nuc box and a new mated queen is introduced into the nuc. The nuc will build up quickly if fed, and is less vulnerable to starving, absconding, and robbing than a package.