Posted Overwintered 5 Frame Nucleus 2024

IF YOU ARE LOOKING TO PURCHASE A COLLECTED NUC PLEASE VIEW OUR COLLECTION NUC PRODUCT PAGE HERE

Our nucs are in very high demand so order early to avoid disappointment - first come, first serve!

5 Frame Overwintered Nucleus supplied with a family of Buckfast bees headed by an open mated, unclipped & marked 2023 (Red) Buckfast queen to begin supply April 2024* onward (Weather Permitting*).

An ideal way to start beekeeping is to purchase a nuc and with our docile bees it is perfect for beginners whilst still maintaining required traits for production, disease resistance and low swarming tendencies.

Your nuc will be supplied to you with brood at all stages (capped brood, larvae, and eggs) and a sufficient amount of stores**.  All of our overwintered nucs are made in the previous season. The difference between an overwintered nuc & a normal spring nuc is that generally you are able to receive an overwintered nuc earlier, are more likely to harvest a spring crop and that they have proved their ability to overwinter.

All our breeding hives and overwintered nucs are treated for varroa routinely with approved VMD medication of which is recorded and kept for 5 years under VMR 2011SI2159, we are also fully DASH accredited suppliers so you can rest assured your bees will be in prime condition on arrival.

Our nucs are supplied on British Standard DN4 National frames (Hoffman spacing 432mm x 356mm) which is suitable for a National Hive & WBC, inside our own bespoke free correx travel box.

Please note these will fit inside of a 14x12 hive but you will have to slowly migrate to your larger frame size. Unfortunately it is not commercially viable for us to produce on several different frame sizes. You can use these in a Langstroth hive (e.g. Flow Hive) by using cable ties to secure a national frame to the top and side bars of a standard Langstroth frame with the bottom bars removed but entirely at your own risk, see Flow Forum guide here.

We have many happy customers throughout the UK. Check our outstanding Trustpilot reviews, above pictures and videos above to see how docile our bees really are.

Please select the most appropriate date for yourself when placing your order. Please be aware this date cannot be changed in our system once the order is placed.

PAYMENT FOR POSTED NUCS IS THE FULL PRICE OF £290 PLUS POST – INCLUDING A NON REFUNDABLE £120 DEPOSIT.
MAIN LAND UK NEXT DAY BEFORE 1PM POSTAGE PRICES - Please note that postage is at your own risk, we always recommend you collect.

Nuc Postage - £30 per Nuc (Via Royal Mail Special Delivery before 1pm*) *Certain postcodes are excluded from the 1pm guarantee, see Royal Mail website.
Prices quoted are for UK only - we do not post overseas or to Ireland.

We ONLY use Royal Mail to post Bees as they are the only courier that manually handle each consignment. Not only do they not use conveyor belts they are the only courier legally that can carry live insects. Be wary of suppliers offering via other couriers as they will likely be handled badly on conveyer systems.

We accept the following payment options – Debit / Credit Card (via Trust Payments), Paypal, Instant Bank Transfer and Cheque.

Once your order has been placed you will receive a confirmation email of your order and payment. Only when your deposit is received your order is secured. Our first point of contact will be via email so please be sure to enter a valid email address so we can invite you to book into our delivery dispatch system. If we do not receive a response via email your Nuc will be offered to the next customer in the queue - unfortunately we just do not have the resources to chase customers consistently. We will contact you to make arrangements when we know your bees are ready and aim to supply during your selected allocation week but as we are unable to control the weather an allowance of +/- 1-2 weeks must be accounted for as a contingency.

POSTAGE - Due to the time constraints we are under in the spring we can only offer postage dispatches on Wednesdays (for Thursday arrival, unless explicitly agreed before hand). We specifically dedicate Wednesdays to postage due to the amount of logistics behind the scenes required for bulk postage of Nucs. We are able to defer your dispatch to the following 2 weeks. Overwintered Nucs are also generally all ready around a similar time so will need to be dispatched within 14 days of being notified before they become too large to post. We are unable to delay dispatches further than this because they will require additional management to prevent swarming. Any additional delays will be charged a hive management fee of £20 + VAT per week.

*All quoted dates are provisional based on conditions and allowance of +/- 1-2 weeks must be accounted for. We cannot control the weather so please bear that in mind when placing your order. Any updates can be seen on our News & Updates section.

** Please note - depending on the time of year stores may vary, e.g. during April / May there is a strong flow of oil seed rape so a larger amount of honey could be expected. Nucs will initially benefit from feeding to establish into a stronger colony when moved into a full size box as demonstrated in our installation video.

Queens overwintered in our nucs are imported from Europe from reputable breeders the previous season.