Package Bees vs Nucs vs Starter Hive

Package Bees

A package of bees contains 3 pounds ( 8 to 10 thousand) of bees of varying ages and a mated queen in a temporary wood and screen wire box.  The bees are usually not related  to the queen and are a mix of bees shaken from various hives.  The package also contains a can of sugar syrup to feed the bees during transit.  Most package bees originate from southern states around Georgia or from California.   The bees must be dumped out of the temporary box into a hive body with frames.  The bees must draw wax and build comb for the queen to begin laying eggs.  It is usually recommended to feed a new package a mixture of one part sugar to 1 part water until they have most of the frames drawn out with new wax.   The queen is in her own small cage fastened inside the larger bee box.  The queen must be introduced to the hive over a period of 3 or 4 days before she is released from her small queen cage.   It usually takes a week to ten days for the queen to begin laying eggs in the new hive.  During the first two or three weeks the population of bees in the hive declines as older bees die.  After three weeks the population of the hive should start to increase as new bees start emerging.

A Nuc or Nucleus Hive

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A nuc is a small version of a full hive usually in a temporary  cardboard box.  Nucs can contain from 2 to 4 frames of brood and eggs.   Any other  frames in the nuc contain honey and pollen  (sometimes 1 frame is empty).  The queen has already been introduced and accepted by the bees.  The queen has laid the frames of eggs and some of those bees are emerging.  Most of the bees in a nuc are the daughters of the queen.  One advantage of a nuc is that the queen has already been accepted and has  started laying eggs.  This reduces the risk of the queen flying away or being rejected and killed by the bees in the hive.  Nucs are usually available 3 or 4 weeks later than package bees.  Nucs are also more expensive that package bees.  Nucs do  contain 5 usable frames,  at least 4 of which are drawn out wax containing eggs, brood, pollen and honey each of which adds to it’s value.

Starter Hive

Starter hives are not as universally defined as nucs and packages.  Starter hives are not offered for sale as often as nucs and packages.  A short definition of a starter hive would be a larger nuc in complete, permanent hive box with a lid and bottom board.  A starter hive could also be described as a small, complete, newly established hive with bees, brood, honey, and a laying queen.  A starter hive will have 8 or 9 drawn frames with eggs, brood, pollen, and honey.  The equipment in a starter hive should be new or fairly new.  A starter hive is ready to place on a level stand at your location and let the bees start gathering nectar.  Additional hive bodies and frames will be needed in 1 or 2 weeks as the hive grows in population.  Starter hives are more expensive that nucs or packages.   However, you get more bees and usable equipment with a starter hive.