# Dadant Nuc



## Burnette Bros (May 25, 2012)

Hey PirateShipp, I know you will enjoy your nuc from Clay at Dadant. They are great bee people that will help you in any way. As far as their nucs, I haven't seen any in medium boxes. I have been there several times this spring getting bettle traps and foundation. Most of Clays nucs that I have seen are 5 racks in deep , I think Jester boxes. I do know when he tells you the nuc is ready to pick up, you will have a good strong nuc. We are lucky to have a cool bee supply like Dadant in our area. Hope you enjoy your bees.


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## JeffM17 (Jul 19, 2013)

not sure about Dedant's but we were in the same position want to go mediums but nuc is on deep frames. After mulling over the various options we decided on using one deep box for the brood nest and using mediums for the remaining. It just seemed easier in the end. 

The only draw back I see is you cannot move a frame up from the bottom deep to the next hive body which will be a medium. The bees will just need to figure it out I guess...


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## PirateShipp (Mar 10, 2015)

Thanks for the reply! I plan on calling them today. I have all my mediums ready and now thinking I'll have to get a deep ready pretty quick! So much for standardization. Bummer. 
Now to explain to the husband I have to buy more bee gear before me bees even arrive :applause:


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## Burnette Bros (May 25, 2012)

What Jeff said is a great solution. Use a deep on the bottom brood chamber and a medium on the 2nd brood chamber. You wont be able to move racks up & down but if you have more than the one hive, you'll be able to move the mediums crossways if need be. When can you pickup your nuc Piratt?


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## PirateShipp (Mar 10, 2015)

I'm unsure. They said it should be ready this month. Fingers crossed. The package I originally ordered was delayed at first due to the weather. Thursday she called and said all bee orders were cancelled. SO...that is how I found about Dadant and their nucs. I'm very excited to be starting with it instead of the package now. 
I was told they would call about a week ahead of time to schedule the pickup. I live near Louisville so it shouldn't be too bad of a drive. Hoping there won't be too many bees flying while I'm driving


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## Burnette Bros (May 25, 2012)

Yea, just my opinion, you are much better off starting out with a nuc. You'll have eggs, open brood, sealed brood, pollen, nectar, honey and new born bees merging every day. They are right off the Lawrenceburg/Frankfort exit. you'll have no problems. You're fixing to have a whole box of new pets.


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## shinbone (Jul 5, 2011)

A nuc on medium frames is pretty rare. I think 5 medium frames might be too small to have enough bees and brood to work well as a nucleus hive.

I am all medium frames. Using one frame size for everything is really good. When I get a nuc, the frames go into a deep body and stay that way for the rest of the season. In the Spring, I nadir with a medium. I keep nadiring with mediums as necessary so that the deep eventually is at the top of the hive and used for honey by the bees. I then just pull the super for extracting at harvest time and never put it back in circulation. That way, I get the deep out of circulation without ever setting back a new hive.


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## PirateShipp (Mar 10, 2015)

That sounds easy enough. I'll have to try it come next spring I guess. I'm tempted now to try to start with the suggested two hives since I have to travel to pick up more equipment in the next couple days. I CAN'T drive all the way out to Kelley for just one box...right?


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## jwcarlson (Feb 14, 2014)

PirateShipp said:


> That sounds easy enough. I'll have to try it come next spring I guess. I'm tempted now to try to start with the suggested two hives since I have to travel to pick up more equipment in the next couple days. I CAN'T drive all the way out to Kelley for just one box...right?


I hope you don't mean one bee box. Gonna need more than one of those regardless of size.


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## PirateShipp (Mar 10, 2015)

Noooooo. I already have a kit of four mediums. I just have to buy one deep to accommodate the nuc


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## burkta (Mar 14, 2015)

Hello, I have the same situation as PirateShipp with my nuc being deep and my wooden ware and frames being mediums. We are picking up 2 nucs Saturday. This is our first venture into bees.

My solution was going to be making a filler to allow the depth of my medium to become a deep, put medium frames on each side of the deep nuc frames, then gradually work out the deep frames and ultimately remove the filler. 

My question are: 
Will this create a problem?

If I do this could/should I gradually move the deep frames to the side to work them out?

Thanks, this site has been a great deal of help while preparing for the bees.


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## lharder (Mar 21, 2015)

I would not introduce deeps. Having all mediums is very flexible especially with only a few hives. 

Burktas solution is an excellent one. Once the bees abandon the lower third of the frames, one can cut down the deep frames. Take a little time to do this and gain a bunch of flexibility down the road and you won't have to throw out very much of the bees work.


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## bbbthingmaker (Sep 26, 2010)

You can stack two medium boxes and put deep frames in the top one.


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## PirateShipp (Mar 10, 2015)

bbbthingmaker said:


> You can stack two medium boxes and put deep frames in the top one.


I'm always a day late on the good ideas! haha! For mothers day I got to buy more bee stuff  I bought a couple deeps and a kit to start a second hive. Was going to do one deep on the bottom of each with all mediums going up. 
Never thought two mediums. Figured they would build the comb down and then it would be forever before I could utilize that box.


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

I do a deep at the bottom and then all mediums. Gives you more options. I also do a deep frame in two medium boxes and it works but will create problems getting boxes apart later. I will also do a medium frame in a deep box. This works even better. it gets the bees to build you starter strips.


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## PirateShipp (Mar 10, 2015)

Daniel Y said:


> I do a deep at the bottom and then all mediums. Gives you more options. I also do a deep frame in two medium boxes and it works but will create problems getting boxes apart later. I will also do a medium frame in a deep box. This works even better. it gets the bees to build you starter strips.



I was wondering with the medium frame in the deep box or two mediums with deep frames would cause them to build the comb down in places you wouldn't necessarily want. I image they would and since I've never done this before am not sure how difficult that would be to fix/remove


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## Daniel Y (Sep 12, 2011)

They fill the space with comb if you leave it there long enough. I have left medium frames in a deep box for a year. The only reason comb within the frame is beneficial is it is convenient to me as a beekeeper. A deep in two mediums is a bit different. the comb extends from the frame down into the next box. this can cause two boxes to get connected. More of a problem but not impossible to deal with. I prefer not to. I no longer hesitate to put a medium frame in a deep box though. Keep in mind I only use deep boxes for brood chambers also.


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## PirateShipp (Mar 10, 2015)

So if I were to put 5 medium frames in the deep box, about how long before I could switch out the 5 frames from the original nuc to mediums in turn putting them all in a medium box? I guess I could keep the deeps for new nucs and hives until transferring to all mediums?
I really liked the idea of all medium and being able to move frames around when needed :l


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## Burnette Bros (May 25, 2012)

Hey Pirate, haven't heard from you in a while. Just wondering if you had got to pick your nuc up yet. I hope you did and hope they are doing great.


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## EZride (Jun 16, 2009)

Hey Burnette Bros. does the Dadant store have a shoe room, like Kelly? Closer to Kelly and always used Kelly in the past but they are getting less reliable.


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## Burnette Bros (May 25, 2012)

Hey EZ, yes they do. They have a nice showroom. Got extractors, all parts for a hive, suits, & working nucs all around. Very friendly and knowledgeable people. Clay runs the place and is very helpful. Easy to get to also. It's a little access road right off i64 at Frankfort/Versailes exit.


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## PirateShipp (Mar 10, 2015)

I had a great experience with Dadant and will go back to them again.
The bees were thriving up until last week it seems and now it appears I'm queenless and scrambling before the cold hits. Guess thats why they suggest starting with more than one hive. Wish I'd taken that advice for sure.


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## My-smokepole (Apr 14, 2008)

People need to learn it is a numbers game. I all is recommend starting as many Nucs as you can when you find swarm cells. That way you have a queen when you need her.


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