Checkerboard a new bought Nuc to a hive

[ic3blue]

Hi there for the beemasters out there

I have question re:checkerboard a new bought Nuc to a hive.

A new beekeeper here (my first hive is a captured swarm colony), now, I just bough a new Nuc and ready to be transfer to a 10 frames box. I also very interested to have foundationless frames (transition).

My question is/are, can I transfer the Nuc to their new home and start checkerboard. OR, keep the colony in the middle of the box and checkerboard the rest with mixed foundation and foundationless?

Your advise will be much appreciate it ? Thank you 🙏 😊

[Ben Framed]

ic3blue I would not recommend checkerboarding this new nuc. I would place the frames from the nuc into the larger box in the order which you remove them from the nuc, placing this arrangement in the center, adding frames with starter strips on both outsides at this time. Give them the liberty to establish themselves and expand from there. Adding a little coat of wax to the starter strips would not be a bad idea. What size brood boxes are you going with? 8 or 10 frame? Other? I am assuming from a 5 frame nuc? Check the box from week to week making sure they are starting the foundationless frames in the correct manner. Correct if needed...

[The15thMember]

I agree with Ben Framed.  Unless they are absolutely busting out of the nuc, they will be too spread out if you checkerboard them all right away.  If you don't mind using foundation, then I think the easiest thing to do is checkerboard the rest of the box and keep the nuc frames together.  If you are looking to be foundationless though, assuming they are in a 5 frame nuc, you could maybe checkerboard just the outer 2 frames, keeping the 3 central frames together.  That would give you a high chance of them drawing the frames nicely without any foundation.  Definitely check weekly to be sure they are drawing straight.  It's way easier to deal with crooked frames sooner rather than later.   

[ic3blue]

Thank you for the advised.

It is 5 frames Nuc and will be transfer into 10 frames box