How to Install a Package or a Nuc: The Extension Method, Step by Step

Before the bees arrive

Order the fall before (Penn State; packages sell out). A 3-pound package is Penn State's best buy, about 10,000 workers; 2- and 5-pound packages exist. A nuc is 4 or 5 frames with a laying queen, on Langstroth frames (Michigan State: most suppliers sell nucs on Langstroth dimensions; check before buying if you run 8-frame or anything else). Have the hive assembled and on its stand, the feeder filled with 1:1, the smoker lit, a spray bottle of 1:1 syrup, and the veil on. Register the apiary where the state requires it: Pennsylvania and Florida for any number of colonies, Oregon at five or more; Michigan has no registration (the state-by-state registration rules give every state's deadline and fee).

Installing a package

This is Penn State's method with UGA's queen-cage detail.

1. Spray the bees through the screen lightly with 1:1 syrup (Penn State); fed bees cluster and do not fly.
2. Remove three to five frames from the centre of the deep (Penn State).
3. Pry the package lid off, lift out the syrup can and the queen cage, and put the lid back loosely.
4. Check the queen is alive. Remove the cork from the candy end of the cage (UGA) and, if there is no candy, puncture or expose it so the bees eat her out over days (Penn State). Hang the cage between the centre frames with the candy end up (UGA), screen side open to the bees.
5. Shake the bees from the package into the gap where the frames were, in two or three firm shakes; set the package in front of the entrance for the stragglers.
6. Replace the frames gently; the bees move out of the way. Put the inner cover and the feeder on, the outer cover over, the entrance reducer at its smallest.
7. Leave them three to five days (Penn State). Then check that the queen is out; if she is not, release her by hand (Penn State: manual release after 3 to 5 days). Do not pull frames or look for eggs for about a week after that.

Feed continuously. Penn State's description of a package is a colony with nothing: no comb, no stores. UGA: feed 1:1 heavily when the hive is light.

Installing a nuc

UF/IFAS's hiving method.

1. Set the nuc box on or beside the hive stand for a day if you can, so the foragers orient to the spot.
2. Smoke the entrance and under the lid. Remove five frames from the centre of the deep.
3. Lift each nuc frame out in the order it sits and place it in the deep in the same order and orientation, brood in the middle (UF/IFAS: the nuc's five frames go in the centre).
4. Shake the remaining bees from the nuc box into the hive; set the box at the entrance.
5. Fill the sides with the remaining frames, close up, reduce the entrance, feed.
6. Do not release or disturb the queen on day one (UF/IFAS); check after four days for eggs and a laying pattern.

The first weeks

Inspect every two weeks from late spring to early summer (Penn State's seasonal guide), looking for eggs and larvae, drawn comb and stores. Add the second deep when the bees are on seven or eight of ten frames. Keep the feeder on until the comb is drawn. Watch for a queen that is not laying after two weeks; the supplier is the first call.

Package or nuc

	Package	Nuc	Source
What arrives	About 3 lb of bees, caged queen, syrup can; no comb	4 to 5 frames of comb, brood, stores, laying queen	Penn State
Price	Lower	Higher	Penn State
Feeding	Heavy from day one	Yes, but with stores to start	Penn State
Queen	Caged; released over days	Already laying; not released, not disturbed day one	Penn State; UF/IFAS
Fits	Any hive	Langstroth frames; check the size	Michigan State
First check	Queen out after 3 to 5 days	Eggs after 4 days	Penn State; UF/IFAS

Local bees

UGA's advice is to buy two established colonies locally if you can; Michigan State's is to join a club first and buy from a local supplier. A nuc from a nearby beekeeper on your frame size, inspected before purchase, is the easiest start there is. The how-many-hives guide covers why two.