Author Topic: Medium Nucs And How To Adapt A Deep On The Bottom  (Read 1475 times)

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Offline Jen

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Medium Nucs And How To Adapt A Deep On The Bottom
« on: March 15, 2018, 03:09:59 pm »
So very close to selling my medium nucs. Some beeks and people don't mind starting their hives with mediums. And some are wanting the first box to be a deep, then mediums.

Can I offer this advice?.. Before you come and get your medium nuc, have a deep box and frames ready and in place where you want your hive to be. Then place the medium nuc on top of the deep box.

It sounds reasonable to me... What do you guys think?
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Offline rober

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Re: Medium Nucs And How To Adapt A Deep On The Bottom
« Reply #1 on: March 15, 2018, 11:53:00 pm »
that should work. once they are working the deep box the queen should be put in the deep box & a queen excluder put over it & the medium box phased out. the thing is jen is that you are trying to reinvent the wheel. 99 % of beekeepers run deep brood frames.if you really want to sell nucs you should consider switching to deep frames.

Offline Jen

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Re: Medium Nucs And How To Adapt A Deep On The Bottom
« Reply #2 on: March 16, 2018, 12:33:09 am »
Hi Rober  :) My objective is to teach how easy it is to lift and manage mediums, or westerns as some say. I run all mediums now. In our bee club several are already complaining about all the weight they have to lift. And considering that many of the new beeks are retired men who have bad backs now, plus women beeks now days, many of us cannot do all that lifting.

So this is what I'm promoting at our bee club. I did this last year as well, and sold 7 medium nucs. Those nucs went into medium boxes. And all those hives are making it thru winter. I'm really proud of that  ;) 8)

A three stack medium hive is the same volume of bees as a deep with one medium.

Also, when I get a swarm, I go onto our bee club facebook site and advertise a swarm for sale. If the buyer wants to bring a deep complete with frames, I'm happy to put the swarm in that box for them.
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Offline Bakersdozen

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Re: Medium Nucs And How To Adapt A Deep On The Bottom
« Reply #3 on: March 16, 2018, 09:05:32 am »


A three stack medium hive is the same volume of bees as a deep with one medium.


There is a cost factor involved here. It takes 3 times more wooden ware your way to accomplish what everyone else is doing with one.
If I were starting over, I would purchase all 8 frame equipment for the reasons you said.  I appreciate your efforts though.

 As a buy, I would be inclined to put the medium nuc on the bottom and the empty deep on top.  That gives the bees lots of room to work and the queen to lay in.  Next spring, when the colony has eaten it's way to the top, the medium nuc can be pulled and the deep can be put down directly on top of the bottom board.
Jen, are you selling the wooden ware with your nucs?
I applaud your work of making nucs and selling them.   :eusa_clap:  You go girl!  Keep us posted, I want to hear how the season goes.


Offline rober

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Re: Medium Nucs And How To Adapt A Deep On The Bottom
« Reply #4 on: March 16, 2018, 10:58:37 am »
i'm all too aware of the weight issues. ted, the local guru in this area actually changed over a 5 frame system before he passed. he had up tp 8 boxes stacked on some hives.  I've started taking empty boxes along so I can move frames into them & lighten the load. but ted & I are/(were) both carpenters & build/built our own woodenware & have/had plenty of idle equipment on hand. I think most hobby beekeepers have the bare minimums on hand.

Offline riverbee

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Re: Medium Nucs And How To Adapt A Deep On The Bottom
« Reply #5 on: March 16, 2018, 11:09:06 am »
"Can I offer this advice?.. Before you come and get your medium nuc, have a deep box and frames ready and in place where you want your hive to be. Then place the medium nuc on top of the deep box.

It sounds reasonable to me... What do you guys think?"


depends jen, whether frames are drawn or not.  for me, i would say put the medium nuc on the bottom, the deep on top and FEED.
like bakers said, the medium can be pulled out at a later date, however i would not use this for honey i would harvest from, i would use this box as a brood box.
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Offline LazyBkpr

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Re: Medium Nucs And How To Adapt A Deep On The Bottom
« Reply #6 on: March 17, 2018, 12:16:51 am »
It takes 3 times more wooden ware your way to accomplish what everyone else is doing with one.

   Not exactly. You have to buy TWO deep boxes, with deep frames. If you use mediums you have to buy THREE boxes, with medium frames. Deep frames cost more than medium frames etc, but you STILL come out a little behind when buying the extra ten frames, but not as far as you might think once you do the math.
  YES, it is a wee bit more expencive, but if the extra ten or fifteen dollars is going to throw you off, then you probably shouldn't be considering a hobby that is so addictive that your about to go out and spend several hundred dollars, (Possibly thousands?) even if you don't know it yet.

   Jen, I usually tell them to put the medium on the bottom, and put the two deeps on top. When NEXT spring arrives, pull that medium box out from under the deeps, because the bees should be in the top deep at that time.
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Offline Jen

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Re: Medium Nucs And How To Adapt A Deep On The Bottom
« Reply #7 on: March 17, 2018, 01:40:08 am »
Good Thread!

Baker, last year I sold wooden nuc boxes with what frames I had on hand, it was all my wooden ware. So, this year I am terribly low on wooden ware. Now I have 10 cardboard nuc boxes to send the nuc frames home in. And I'm trying with all my might to not swarm at all, so I can get some drawn wax frames to store. I sold my nucs for $100.

It looks like the general concensus is to put the nuc on the bottom, then kick it out early next spring. That's what I do too.

Thanks Everyone  ;) 8)
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Offline SmokeyBee

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Re: Medium Nucs And How To Adapt A Deep On The Bottom
« Reply #8 on: March 18, 2018, 05:43:08 pm »
Jen,

I'm still new at this, but I am switching to all mediums just to keep everything uniform. I would gladly pay $100 for a medium frame nuc.

If we weren't 3000 miles apart we could talk turkey!