Honey Bees: Nucs

Our nucs are made from overwintered survivor stock, includes 5 fully clean drawn combs with a proven quality queen, brood in all stages, honey, and pollen.

Cost:

Our nucs are available April to mid-fall and sale for $195.00 with a $90 payment to reserve your nuc. Please drop off your personal "EZNUC" 5 frame nuc box for us to install the nuc into at least one week before pick up. We do not accept 10 frame hives, because of the set-up of the nuc apiary. We only accept EZ NUC boxes because of the amount of issues we have experienced when we have used other types of NUC boxes. You can use one of our EZ boxes for $25 per box when the nuc box is returned to us in good condition within 72 hours we will refund your $25 via store credit if the box is returned in the condition it was give to you. All payments are non-refundable because the amount of time and resources used to make you a quality nuc. Moreover, we only have a select number of nucs available and turn away business to fulfill your order.

*Failure to show up or give 24 hour notice that you will not be able to pick up your bees on your schedule pick up day and time will result in in loss of all funds towards the nuc and the nucs themselves. You will not receive a refund, store credit or any of our current or future nucs. If you have any questions about this please contact us for details as to why.

What is a Nuc?

Nuc is the best and more secure way to start hive because your colony will be off to a much better start than a colony started from packaged bees. A nuc is essentially a small working hive, whereas package bees are a box with bees with a queen. When buying package bees you have to supply the bees with a new home. You may run the risk of the bees rejecting the new home provided and take off elsewhere. Nucs come with frames filled with brood, honey, and pollen provided by the queen and bees of the nuc. The frames are well covered with enough bees to keep the brood warm and to take care of the small hive. A healthy, young, laying queen is also included with the nuc. A nuc will grow fast enough so that bees are an established colony and at full strength for when the honey flow starts.

What makes our Nucs Special:

Our Nucs are "grown" not "thrown."

It is an accepted practice to throw together a nuc for sale. Large-scale beekeepers will throw together the needed 5 frames to make a nuc by taking frames from different hives. They will then shake a reasonable amount of bees into the box, pull and cage a queen and place her in the nuc. The nuc is then sealed and sold. The risk is that the bees may not accept the caged queen and you really do not know the quality of the queen you are getting. Most of these type of nucs are available for daytime pick up.

Our nucs are grown. Our nucs are started with a queen cell. The queen hatches in their nuc box, mates, and cared for by the bees that have been by her side since hatching. So that we can be sure of her temperament and laying pattern. We keep our queens for 3-6 weeks or until they have "grown" their nuc to the needed 5-8 frames. By receiving a "grown" nuc the new owner is receiving a nuc that is a true family and reflection of the quality of their queen.

Nuc "add-on services":

Customers must notify us one week prior to pick up or within 24 hours from time of order if they are opting to include an "add-on" service to their nuc. Discounted consult time can be purchased at the time of pick up..( please bring cash as remote pickup locations may not allow credit card purchases)

$7.00 Place queen in a push-in cage. A push in cage is a wire cage that we make to protect the queen during transport. While preparing your nuc for pick up, once we see the queen on a frame we will place a cage around her to protect her. The very next morning when you are installing the nuc into their new hive you will need to release her by lifting the push in cage and gently placing the frame into the hive body. You can use the push in cage in the future for new queen introduction or when making a split. It is a great device to have in your beekeeping toolbox for future use. Queens in push-in cages fall under the standard warranty. If too much smoke is used at a time of installation or she is too stressed for unknown reasons she may fly off. Don't panic most of the time she will fly back to the hive that has her pheromones and babies.

Discounted private phone/ skype/facetime consult. We understand that as new bee parents you may have some questions, which is why we offer new nuc owners the option to pre-purchase remote consult time at a discounted rate. We love and support our new beekeepers. It is our goal to be thorough and provide you with the best answers which can take time. We want to make you as successful as possible, which is why we offer private phone/facetime/skype which may allow us to send you visual examples. Private remote consult is scheduled during our non-business hours to ensure you are getting our undivided attention.

Rates are as follows:

One hour: $55.00 with Discount: $40

30 minutes: $35 with Discount: $25

Standard Nuc Warranty:

All nucs are checked the day of pick up for the queen. Once the queen is seen within the hive the nuc is marked that it is ready to be picked up. All nucs are sold with an “as is” warranty. Once they are loaded on/in your vehicle they are yours. This is a standard livestock warranty as applied throughout agriculture because the seller has no control over how the livestock will be transported, new environment/shelter, how the livestock is cared for after they leave the seller's possession. There are too many variables, individual management styles and environmental stresses that are beyond the seller's control. Moreover, the seller cannot be held responsible for the productivity of the nuc this includes but not limited to: rate of growth, honey/pollen production, swarming, temperament.

Nuc Extended Warranty:

Even the most skilled professional beekeeper can still make mistakes/accidents. We all experience hive losses even when we think we have done everything right. Installation of a nuc can be a little tricky because you are having to work with a young and very active queen. It is not unheard of to have a queen damage or killed during installation, inspection, or when closing the hive. Queens can also become damaged during transport as frames may move if sharp turns are made, quick stops, bump on the road or while going over rough terrain. She just happens to be in the wrong place at the wrong time. To elevate the stressors above, we offer the extended warranty below:

You may purchase a 14 physical day extended nuc warranty from March 1st to October 7th for $75.00 or 21 physical day warranty for $100 per nuc. These warranties start the date of pick up.

The extended warranty includes 60 total minutes of private phone/skype consult for 6 weeks from the time of pick up. Please call/email us to schedule an appointment for one - 60-minute call, two- 30-minute calls, or three- 20-minute calls.

The extended warranty includes a 25% discount for additional private phone/Skype consult. Good for 6 months.

The extended warranty also includes a 25% discount on one regular priced beekeeping class/seminar of your choice within 1 year of purchase of your extended warranty nuc.

If you are not satisfied with the nuc within the time frame of your warranty we will provide you with a one-time final exchange and thereby be fulfilling the obligation/agreement of the extended warranty. The final exchange nuc is only offered on nucs that have not received a replacement queen or been adjusted by Sarasota Honey Company via private in-person consult. The returning nuc must be returned by the purchaser with same frames and UNTAMPERED barcodes. The reason the warranty time, it that this enough time for the new owner to know the hive and enough time for Sarasota Honey Company to save the hive should it become damaged. We love our bees anytime beyond three weeks we risk the hive's condition becoming too far gone for us to save.

Please note: The replacement bees feature of the extended warranty becomes Null and VOID if the owner places any kind of treatment within the new hive/nuc or feeds the nuc anything other than white granulated sugar and water.

New owner agrees to only inspect on day 7 from the time of pick up and on day 20 from the time of pick up. If you inspect your hive beyond 2 times you risk your bees absconding which is of no fault of Sarasota Honey Company.

We may offer a one-time in-person private consult/inspection, this option is at the discretion of Sarasota Honey Company, within the final days of purchase the extended warranty and only for locations within 15 miles of our Sarasota downtown shop. During the inspection, we will make our recommendations and follow the owner's wishes to either adjust the hive or replace the hive. Once we make the needed and agreed upon hive adjustments the owner is no longer eligible for a final replacement nuc. If the owner chooses to replace the nuc under the extended warranty we have thereby fulfilled the obligation/agreement of the extended warranty.

Under this extended warranty the owner agrees to inspect the hive on day 7 from the date of pick up. Should the new owner find ripe capped over queens cells within 7 days from time of pick up; the warranty also includes a few options one of which is a new queen on a new frame that will be exchanged for the barcoded frame that has ripe capped over queen cell. This feature is a form of insurance on the queen in case she was damaged during transport or install into her new hive body which is beyond the seller's control or liability. We keep a few queens on hand for this warranty. However, please keep in mind the queen replacement is only available if we have queens ready to leave their beginner box. In the rare occasion that there is not a queen available we provide you with some other viable options. No replacement queens will be offered after 7 days from pick up. This is because if the virgin queen hatches she has the ability to kill a mated queen. Virgins are smaller, slimmer, and faster than a mated queen.

No replacements or hive adjustments are available after the time frame of your warranty has expired from the time of purchase.

**Customers must notify us one week prior to pick up or within 24 hours from time of order if they are opting to add the extended warranty to a nuc. Once we receive your confirmation of desired extended warranty the frames on your nuc will receive an individualized barcode prior to picking up. Customers will not be allowed to choose the extended warranty at time of pick up. We have the right to refuse to return nuc or queen cell frame if we suspect the barcodes have been manipulated or tampered with.**