A nuc is a small five frame hive of honey bees. It is a place to start new hives and a place to store queens in the spring and summer in case you need an emergency queen for a colony.
Every year I keep 5-10 nucs around. I sometimes build them into full size colonies or divide the space and keep two queens in each nuc box. At the end of October 2010 I had two nucs left over from the season and not enough time or honey resources to, grow them into sustainable colonies. I feed them the honey I could spare and hoped they would survive.
As most of you know we have experienced a very cold winter. I never thought these two nucs could survive the year. Yesterday I popped one open just to see if they were dead and was SHOCKED to find beautiful bees. Needless to say, these queens have proven they are VERY good stock and are deserving of care and a chance to grow and thrive into the spring. Ok, so now I have decided to reach into my honey stores and keep these girls well fed until the spring. I just hope they will grow fast and strong and replace the honey i am feeding them.
I just know if these queen bees very strong to survive, thanks for sharing
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