🐝💗Our Backyard Beekeeping Journey!💗🐝

[Apis mellifera]

I want to raise my own queens. We've even talked about maybe building a long Langstroth hive. Much easier on the body.

Theres nothing like having 5x5 nucs in the yard. They are easy to work with and easy to build. They're great for raising queens, boosting colonies, drawing out comb, comb honey, extra queens and resources.

 

[drstratton]

Theres nothing like having 5x5 nucs in the yard. They are easy to work with and easy to build. They're great for raising queens, boosting colonies, drawing out comb, comb honey, extra queens and resources.

Do you think it's harder to keep them from swarming? Curious how you manage that size.
I've learned so much since we started, but still have so much more that I don't know.
I really want to do a resource hive, but I'll admit, I'm a little bit nervous about it. Just because it will be new to me, just like everything else I've done this year and caught onto.

 

[Apis mellifera]

Do you think it's harder to keep them from swarming? Curious how you manage that size.
I've learned so much since we started, but still have so much more that I don't know.
I really want to do a resource hive, but I'll admit, I'm a little bit nervous about it.

No more than any strong colony. Make splits and sell them or what I like to do is give them to beginners since its expensive for them to start. If they do swarm (not best practices) but, no big deal. It's not like your keeping them for large production. Surprisingly they are always productive anyway. They're fun and easy to care for, you'll never have to buy bees again.

 

[drstratton]

No more than any strong colony. Make splits and sell them or what I like to do is give them to beginners since its expensive for them to start. If they do swarm (not best practices) but, no big deal. It's not like your keeping them for large production. Surprisingly they are always productive anyway. They're fun and easy to care for, you'll never have to buy bees again.

Thank you! I definitely want to try this next year. Now I just have to talk Dale into building a few 5 frame boxes...lol

 

[Apis mellifera]

Thank you! I definitely want to try this next year. Now I just have to talk Dale into building a few 5 frame boxes...lol

Very easy. Rough cut lumber and butt joints. I used a dado blade for finger grips, but its much simpler to just screw on cheap metal handles.

 

[drstratton]

Very easy. Rough cut lumber and butt joints. I used a dado blade for finger grips, but its much simpler to just screw on cheap metal handles.

Thank you! He used a dado on the deeps and mediums that he built for us. He put handles on one box and the way our Apiary is set up, it made it too tight to pick it up.
I think I'm going to extend the pavers, so that I can move the back stand further over, but still keep it in front of the fence. That way I can have a little more room between the front hive boxes, without blocking the flight path of the ones in the back.

 

[cavemanrich]

Theres nothing like having 5x5 nucs in the yard.

I'm not into bee keeping,, but hang out here to gain knowledge, just for the sake of learning.
5X5,, are we talking about 5 inch by 5 inch size??

 

[drstratton]

I'm not into bee keeping,, but hang out here to gain knowledge, just for the sake of learning.
5X5,, are we talking about 5 inch by 5 inch size??

A Nuc holds 5 deep frames. 2 of my hives were nuc's. When we got them home we moved the bees and frames into our 8 frame hives. Some people use 10 frame hives.

Here's a couple of pictures of one of the nuc's. These are plastic and pretty nice, but we will build better ones from wood.

 

[cavemanrich]

OK,, so a 5x5, means 5 frames (nucs) with 5 stacked high.

 

[drstratton]

OK,, so a 5x5, means 5 frames (nucs) with 5 stacked high.

I actually had to look this up. It's 2, 5 frame nuc's stacked. 5x5 differentiates it from a single Nuc.