# Nuc Vs. Package?



## b.walden (Jan 16, 2010)

Hello for New Hampshire: 
We have built our Kenyan style top bar hive and I am wondering how you get a nuc into the hive. :scratch: Do you shake/brush the bees into the hive and close it up or do you have to cut the nuc frames to fit? Thanks getting ready to order or bees now and I would like to get a nuc.


-Bill


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## kwest (May 16, 2009)

seems to me that getting a package would be easier. could you possible set the nuc on top of the kenyan hive. when they exit the nuc make them go down into the kenyan hive and out through the kenyan hive exit. much like a trap out on a house or tree. Just an idea. i would think they would move into the kenyan hive over time.


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

If you get a TBH nuc from a TBH beekeeper then you would just put the TBH frames into your hive. Otherwise, get a package.

Check out Sam Comfort's Anarchy Apiaries in NY. He sells TBH nucs. He may know someone near you who sells them too.


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## laurelmtnlover (May 29, 2009)

Also see Michael Bushes website
www.bushfarms.com
or 
www.customwoodkitsinternational.com

I got bees from a local beek that caught swarms. He had put them in a cardboard box. They started building comb in it, and were out foraging the day before he sealed it up and I brought it home and brushed, dumped them in. Good luck
Carrie


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

I would buy the package any time the bees are not available on the size comb/frame you want or the size cell you want. No point making life more complicated than it needs to be. I would buy the nuc if it's available on the size comb/frame or the size cell you want. May as well have a good head start. Taking a nuc and cutting things to fit in a top bar hive is not a good head start for them or you. Buy the package.


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## Delta Bay (Dec 4, 2009)

Has anyone tried building a nuc box that will attach to one end of a Kenyan TBH that gives full access with the entrance at the opposite end from the nuc attachment and let them reorient out of the nuc and into the TBH?


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## brac (Sep 30, 2009)

I thought people built top bar hives out of what ever wood they had, and that's what size they would end up, am I mistaken, is there a standard size?


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## FindlayBee (Aug 2, 2009)

We should all start working on a standard size. My top bar opening is 15 inches with a depth of about 11 inches. All my hives will be very close to these dimensions. Why do I say close to these dimensions? I haven't gotten to the point of making everything exact. I can get close, but...

I am going with packages for my first year. If things go well, I will be doing tbh nucs. If things go too well. I will probably be switching over to small cell foundation in lang hives.


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## doc25 (Mar 9, 2007)

If you're stuck with a nuc you can just make a plywood adapter. This would be a sheet of plywood with an opening that would allow the the two to mate together without holes and make some gapped top bars.


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## Michael Bush (Aug 2, 2002)

> I thought people built top bar hives out of what ever wood they had, and that's what size they would end up, am I mistaken, is there a standard size?

Most people build all of their top bar hives the same size so they can move combs around. No, there is not "standard" size, but if yours is the same size as the person you are buying a "top bar nuc" from, then they should fit.

For instance, I think Sam has a standard for his and if you build yours the same or buy one from him that is the same, the combs will fit. And I know he sells top bar nucs.


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## Shazam (Mar 1, 2010)

There is at least theoretically a benefit of having a 19" bar, and opening, which is that as people want to experiment with supering a lang box on top of their TBH, its a more direct fit and can work with the bars being in the same direction as your TBH bars. 

Otherwise, almost all the plans I read when looking to do a TBH had different dimensions in top opening, bottom opening, length, angle, whether to have a solid bottom or mesh bottom, etc. TBH is still a very personal and non industrialized variant in beekeeping.


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## Aram (May 9, 2006)

depending on the size of your bars/ hive you can make some thinner flat bars and attach the frames right to the bar. Like so:








P.S. Oh yeah, also, finding medium nucs is pretty rare. A deep frame might also fit. Do a dry test with an empty frame before ordering (and annoying  the bees.) Finally, as MB says, if the frames don't fit I'd go with a package.


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## AnarchyApiaries (Sep 6, 2007)

Shazam said:


> TBH is still a very personal and non industrialized variant in beekeeping.


may it always bee so.
- sam


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## stangardener (Mar 8, 2005)

hello anarchyapiaries i enjoy your web site. thanks!


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## sqkcrk (Dec 10, 2005)

Nucs.


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