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Making nucs for sale.

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Bob Wilson:
I made up a batch of nucs for sale earlier this spring, as I knocked back hive population for swarm control.
I was encouraged to sell a good, full 5 frame nuc, worth the money, and I did.
However, there is a fine line between a nuc that is good value, full of bees, brood, and resources VS a packed nuc, pushed to the beginning of swarm impulse.
Insights?

TheHoneyPump:
Yup, the insight is do not build the nuc in advance. Build it on the day of or day before of pickup, not sooner. Also instruct the buyer to transfer into a full size hive in the evening of the day they pickup the nuc.
When selling colonies, the nuc box is a constraining temporary holding space valid for only 2 - 3 days. If you built the colony properly, within 1 week the mature brood is emerging and the colony fills a 10 frame box.
So ... do not build them in advance and instruct to have them re-hived on the same day or within 3 days max.

Hope that helps.

Bob Wilson:
I have to think this out...
In creating nucs from excess early spring population, I help them make QCs. But those QCs have to emerge, mate, and become proven layers before I sell the nuc.
This year I did that in 5 frame nucs, which I kept until they built up in population.
Instead, I could pull the existing, over wintered queens from the original hives, with resources, and sell them immediately, but that messes with my own spring build up time line.
I could make QCs in one big hive, wait until capped, place in 2 frame nucs, then after they emerge, mate, and start laying, I could transfer those 2 frames, plus other pulled resources to make 5 frame nucs to be picked up that day.
Is that how you beeks do it?
I was trying to avoid the whole grafting setup, and just make nucs for sale.

FloridaGardener:
Bob, I work it like you proposed, because I don't have a big op and a queen bank.

Also, the Buyers tend to be 1 or 2 nucs at a time, and I have limited equipment.  And although they may say "I want to pickup on the weekend" things can come up and it could be 2 weeks before the buyer actually can make it here, and so each nuc needs stores checks, trashtray emptied, SHB check, additional hive body, so on... until it goes into a buyer's hive.

Tending to the nuc includes swarm control, including culling a frame of capped bees if your nuc is about to have a population explosion. I sell 7 medium 100%-built frames as a nuc.  I would sell the whole 10-frame colony but people will not pay more, and I need the comb.

I use medium frames. The ticket for me is to make the nucs with one frame capped brood, one frame eggs on new-ish wax (fewer cocoons to chew), one frame of pollen/honey, one frame mixed.  That's enough to bring the brood to maturity, but I want to keep them at work while they wait for Q to mature, so I also feed 1:1 in a feeding rim.

Plus as a "team"  colony working together for awhile, I think the bees are less likely to abscond in a Buyer's new location, when they have a hive mind. (- anecdotal, no science - )

TheHoneyPump:
Youve got the right idea.  Your only issue to separate out is that you are approaching the sale nuc and the mating nuc as synonymous. They are not. 
Pull excess bee power out into mating nucs. Pulling power is not limited to the hives, it includes pulling power from nucs that are already out.  So long as it exists keep pulling it and making more, it is a continuous process, all season long.  As the queens are made and mated, recombine the good ones with the failed ones into the sales nucs.   You do not grow your sales nuc, you build it, and the build is no more than just a few days before releasing.
You do not need to graft. Timelines are significantly shortened and success rate is much higher if you do.  But it is not essential.  Some suppliers buy mated queens, introduce her to the nuc then sell the nuc soon as she is out a week later. That is actually how many of the big quantity nuc sellers are doing it, they use bought mated queens.
To make your own and to keep it simple, just:   Pull and set out, pull and set out, pull and set out, recombine-build and sale,   Pull and set out, pull and set out, pull and set out, recombine-build and sale,   Pull and set out, pull and set out, pull and set out, recombine-build and sale, .. and so on. Every week and all season long.
Stop when the bees tell you to stop, which is when they are not making excess power anymore or the mating nucs are failing more often than succeeding.

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