Nucs for 2026 Spring Delivery
A 5 frame nuc is typically composed of 4-5 pounds of bees… that’s 14,000 – 17,000 live bees! In addition, the nuc will contain an average of about 17,000 cells of brood in various stages of development. This offers nucleus colonies a distinct advantage over package bees, because there is brood hatching and young bees emerging. As such, the population will build up faster and typically require a second brood box within two weeks of installation.
Currently scheduled pickup dates begin in early to mid April but are subject to change due to inconsistencies in Spring weather. When you arrive at our nuc yard, you will be able to choose which nuc(s) to take. This is done on a first-come, first-served basis. You will be notified by email when nucs are available for pickup, but you may also request to be notified by phone if that is your preference. The email you receive will include an opportunity to sign up for pickup using the SignUpGenius registration platform.
2026 Spring Nuc Details
Nucs will be in a Pro Nuc box when you pick them up. The Pro Nuc box is only intended to serve as temporary housing for the colony, and bees should be transferred from the Pro Nuc box to a more permanent hive as soon as possible.
Hardware Requirements
You are responsible for having the hive hardware needed to support your new colony. Recommended Hardware includes:
- Brood Box: This is a deep box suitable for a young colony, and typically come in 8-frame or 10-frame varieties.
- Frames: Pro Nuc boxes come with 5 frames, so to fill an entire brood box, additional frames are needed. When you bring your nuc home, you should have at least 5 empty deep frames (for a 10-frame brood box) or 3 empty deep frames (for an 8-frame brood box). Your nuc will grow fast, so it is essential you give them the space they need to expand.
- Bottom board: Bottom boards come in either screened or solid varieties, and allow bees a landing platform when entering and exiting the hive as well as additional space near the bottom for hive sanitation and management.
- Inner Cover: Inner covers create a gap between the top of the uppermost frames in a hive and the cover, which reduces accidental killing of bees during hive inspections and also helps with moisture management. Some inner covers are notched to give bees a second exit and entry point and extra ventilation when used with a Telescoping cover.
- Telescoping Cover: There are numerous designs for telescoping covers. What is most important is that they prevent rainwater from entering the top of the hive and are able to slide freely back and forth, thus reducing binding to the inner cover and making it easier to inspect the hive. Telescoping covers should be armored with metal or some other water-resistant material since they will suffer the most exposure to the elements.
- Hive Feeder: Hive feeders come in several varieties, from boxes that sit on top of the hive to frame-width feeders that slide in place of a frame to feeder jars placed at the entrance to the hive. Nucs should continue to be fed until the first brood box and a second brood box (if using deep boxes) or all three brood boxes (if using illinois/medium supers) have drawn out comb and are being actively used.
Optional Hardware:
- Additional brood boxes: Within two weeks of installing your nuc, the bees will likely fill an entire brood box and be ready to expand into a new one. Having an extra brood box with empty frames on hand for each nuc will ensure you are ready to expand each hive as soon as the bees are ready.
- Entrance excluder: Particularly if there are already strong colonies in your apiary, an entrance excluder will help your young nuc to fend off robbing from the other colonies. Entrance excluders are also useful for reducing drafts in the cold, dark months of winter.
- Queen excluder: Once your hive is large enough to generate surplus honey, it is important to limit the queen to the brood boxes. Each time a larva matures in a cell, the wax around it becomes darker and the cells becomes smaller. Dark wax is a more desirable meal for wax-consuming parasites and less suitable for producing comb honey for sale. Having a queen excluder will keep the wax in the super boxes clean and easier to store when there is no nectar flow.
- Super Boxes: Illinois/medium supers are often the best option for surplus honey storage. While there it is uncommon for a nucleus colony to produce surplus honey the first year, it is not unheard of. The spring nectar flow is often fast and furious, with little time for you to wait for an order to arrive. It is much better to have a few super boxes, with frames, on hand if your nucleus colony fills up all its brood boxes during the nectar flow.
Pricing Details
5 frame Nucs with an Italian VSH Queen: $215.00 each.
Extra South Carolina VSH Queens are available for pickup for $38.00 each.
We will only have replacement SC queens available for a little over a week following nuc delivery. While we cannot ship nucs, we are able to ship SC replacement queens to you via Express Mail Overnight.
Ordering Details
Ordering: Email Parktonbeesandhoney@gmail.com or call us directly at 301-395-4298 with your name, address, phone number, and email address. Please include your nuc or replacement queen order in your email. We will email you an order confirmation and payment instructions at the time of your order. Alternatively, you may use the form HERE to contact us.
Payment: Full payment is due when your order is confirmed. Orders cancelled before March 25th will be refunded the purchase price of the nuc or replacement queen. If cancelling after March 25th, then no refund will be made UNLESS we can resell the nuc or replacement queen to another customer on our wait list.
Wait List: Orders made after March 25th will be put on a waitlist. If you are on the waitlist and a nuc or replacement queen becomes available, you will be contacted in the order you were placed on the waitlist with payment instructions.
Returns or Refunds: Prior to sale, we inspect each one of our nucs to ensure they have a living queen and suitable population. Nucs are then distributed within a week of arrival at our farm. There are no returns or refunds once the customer accepts their nuc or replacement queen and it leaves our property.
Other Information:
By purchasing a nuc from Parkton Bees and Honey at Happy Chicken Acres, the customer acknowledges that nucs contain living creatures and are perishable. Parkton Bees and Honey will not be held responsible or liable for loss of bees or nucs due to overheating, swarming, or neglect once they have been received by the customer. It is the responsibility and the duty of the customer to ensure that nucs are kept cool and out of direct sun until they are transferred to more permanent housing.
Beekeeping is a form of agriculture and is subject to the capricious nature of weather and climate. Parkton Bees and Honey will do our best to deliver the bees on time; however, unfavorable spring weather may prevent us from doing so. Should there be a change in delivery dates, we will contact you.