what to do..

[johnwratcliff]

Hey all,
New guy here. I've been given the opty to buy two nucs or a full hive. I don care if I get honey this year but I want to build my hive count up and strong enough to winter. I'm fortunate I live in a fairly moderate climate outside of Nashville. I have two hives now that are week. I'd like to have 10 hives by the end of the year. I have 4 cut outs scheduled in the next couple of weeks. I'm just torn on the nuc or full hive? What would you all do?

[iddee]

I would buy the most bees, stores, and woodenware for the money. You don't give enough details to make a decision.

[mikecva]

If you are lucky your cutouts will have bees and a good queen. That will build your week hives. But if you do 4 cutouts with bees, you still need two hives. That will get you to 4 total. Personally, I would work on learning the bees and help them get thru to spring rather then going to 10 hives in your first year. In the mean time, you can get more boxes, look for swarms, do cutouts, etc.   Just me two cents.  -Mike

[sc-bee]

If strong nucs I vote nucs. And feed if needed and split.