I've been doing a lot of research but still not sure what nuc is for? Is it for doing splits? What's the reason for nucs? Can anyone explain to me in a simple way?
Thansks.
Nucs can be for:
1. Making a new colony at little or no cost
2. Capturing a swarm
3. Splitting an existing hive to help with swarming
4. Having a queen and brood available that can be put into an existing hive to increase the population
5. Selling as a source of income
There are other reasons but the above is why I have nucs. :-D
Very simply put.......
It is just a small hive with little space so that the bees can heat it and defend it easier, and thereby focus more on expanding. Any reason that they might benefit from this is a good reason to use them.
I think that "nuc" is short for "nucleus". So you can use them as the "nucleus" to start out a new full size hive, using the reasons that Two Bees described.
Plus they take up less space, use fewer frames for each nuc hive, and are easier to move.
Other advanced reasons to use might be:
Small hives to use when getting multiple queens mated and laying
Overwintering multiple hives - 4 nuc colonies versus 1 2-story full hive
If you just want to keep a couple of hives for honey, you probably won't use them. If you have extra equipment you probably don't need them. You may, however, buy a nuc when setting up a hive with bees, that is usually just 5 frames of bees/brood with a queen that forms the nucleus to the new hive.
I use 4 frame nucleus hives for raising grafted queens. If they're packed with shaken bees they can easily provide for the cells.
Scott
Best simple explanation I can offer is that it's a nucleus of a honey bee colony. Easialy defended and temp maintained during the initial growth of a colony whether derived from grafted queens, small swarms or splits (pulled nucs) from existing hives.
I use nucs for my swarms. I've also found that it helps keep small hive beatles under control.