Episode 62: Buying a Nuc, Oil Seed Rape and Spring Update

Hi, I’m Stewart Spinks and welcome to Episode 62 of my podcast, Beekeeping Short and Sweet. 

Oilseed Rape and Bees by Allan Calder

BBKA Guidance Sheet on Buying a Nucleus Colony

With May just around the corner, it’s a timely moment to talk about jobs for the coming month and also a little update on what my bees have been up to.

The end of April and into the beginning of May sees a lot of colonies building up strongly which inevitably raises concerns about swarming again. We’ve had some remarkably fine weather, some very warm days and a lot of colonies are well in advance of where they would normally be at this time of the year. On social media, I’ve seen reports of swarm cells in colonies and several beekeepers already being called out to collect swarms from colonies that have jumped at the chance to reproduce during this lovely spell of weather. And that reminds me to mention a word of caution to any beginner beekeepers out there who has one of those, month by month beekeeping guide books, remember they are just a guide, beekeeping is all about managing your bees in the prevailing conditions that you have. This time last year I was coming to terms with a long cold blast of icy weather from Europe and working out how to get cleaned up and start the beekeeping season proper. This year everything is a good three weeks ahead but I’ll come on to my beekeeping in a bit. I think most beekeepers here in the UK have enjoyed a very productive start to the season and most have supers added to their colonies as the brood nests expand and colonies grow larger day by day. That said, I’m looking at the forecast for the coming week and we’ve got rain and cooler conditions to come so things will slow down a little no doubt.

If you’re just starting out in beekeeping May is a great time to get started and is the month I recommend to beginners they should look to being their beekeeping journey. The risk of severe cold weather is usually long gone and nucleus colonies that have over-Wintered as bursting to get out of their nuc boxes and be transferred into a full sized hive. Of course, this year you could have started a few weeks earlier and had a very fast start. The key is to order your first nucleus colony well in advance in the Autumn of the year before you get going or you’re likely to have to wait until late May or even June to get a nice sized nucleus colony.

If you’re unsure of what you should be getting there are guidelines set outbid the British Beekeepers Association in the form of a useful pdf. I’ll post a link to it should you want to take a look.

Generally speaking, a nucleus colony should be around 5 or 6 frames in total and consist of at least three good frames of brood. It will have a good laying queen that has been marked and from either last season or this season so it’s important to know if the queen is marked and what colour mark she has.

Most suppliers of nucs will use the internationally recognised queen marking colour scheme which can be remembered as the acronym Will You Raise Good Bees, standing for White, Yellow, Red, Green and Blue. Each colour covers two years so for instance, last year was 2018 and the colour used was Red. This year 2019 is Green, 2020 will be Blue, 2021, White and 2022 Yellow. Then we start all over again.

Of course, if you don’t want the queen to be marked you can request this from the beekeeper selling you the nuc but for beginner beekeepers, it does make the whole experience less stressful and more fun when you get to spot the queen in those first initial inspections.

If ever I’m selling nucleus colonies I always like to give out nearly new frames. It isn’t necessary but most regular suppliers of nucs will be rotating their frames anyway so the frames will be nearly new, maybe one or two