"Mini" Polystyrene Nucleus Hive (Nuc)

"Mini" Polystyrene Nucleus Hive (Nuc)

This modern mini nucleus hive (nuc) is used for mating queen bees during the first weeks of their life. For this reason, they are also known as mating hives.

The nucleus hive for four mini frames is made from quality material in which bees feel comfortable and live a full life, just as they would in a standard (large) hive. This mating hive model is popular both with professional queen breeders and with beekeepers who rear queen bees for their own apiary needs. The nucleus hive is simple to use and maintain. 

Young bees are used to populate the nucleus hive, as they accept new queen bees better, especially unmated queens. A queen cell or a mated queen bee is placed into the new colony in the nucleus hive. Feed is added to the feed compartment. During the first days, the bees begin drawing comb and filling the cells with nectar. This is a good sign that a new small colony is forming and that the queen bee has been accepted. After mating flights, the young queen bee starts laying eggs in the comb. At this point, the queen bee can be removed and a protected mature queen cell can be introduced to the bees. For a continuous queen rearing cycle in the Lyson nucleus hive throughout the season, an appropriate queen rearing schedule is prepared.

At the bottom of the nucleus hive, across its full width, there is a metal mesh for ventilation. It is positioned slightly above the base level, allowing air access even when placed on a flat surface. There is also an additional entrance at the bottom with four positions (open, closed, queen isolation grille and ventilation).

The feed compartment is large enough to hold any type of feed. It is closed with a queen excluder grille to prevent the queen bee from entering the feed compartment.
The four wooden Lyson frames have grooves in the top and bottom bars for inserting rectangular sheets of beeswax foundation measuring 100x85mm.
The high-density polystyrene foam material allows the bees to maintain the required temperature throughout the season, which is important for small nucleus hive colonies.