5F Dadant US Nuc wood

01 · 48, NOT 47

There are two Dadants, and a centimetre apart

Two formats share the name: Dadant US, with a 48 cm top bar, which is the usual one in Spain, and Dadant Blatt at 47 cm, dominant in France and Italy. This box is the 48. And it is worth being more precise, because «Dadant US» is not one single measurement across Europe either: the safe reference here is the Spanish industrial frame of 48 × 30 cm. A German beekeeper told us his Dadant US frame had a top bar a couple of millimetres longer and would not go in. If your frames come from another market, measure them first.

02 · WHAT ARRIVES

The five frames are in the box; the crownboard is not

The set includes the box with a fixed floor, the timber roof clad in galvanised sheet with easy-open catches, the perforated entrance and the five wired frames, Hoffman type: they space themselves on the widened side, with no need for a spacer rack. What it does not carry: a crownboard, foundation or feeder. And foundation is sold separately, so plan on fitting it.

03 · THE TIMBER

22 mm of pine: this nuc can overwinter

Finger-jointed pine, 22 mm thick, handles damp and warping better than plain solid board and has enough wall to overwinter in. That is the difference from the HDF Dadant US nuc: that one is a season box, thin and cheap, for collecting swarms and delivering sold nuclei; this one can stay with a colony inside from October to March. It is the same box we sell in Dadant Blatt, with the other top bar.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

The frames come wired, but it is worth re-tensioning the wire before you fix the foundation: slack wire buckles the comb on the first move. And there is no feeding chamber under the roof, so if you need to feed, the one that goes in without modification is a frame feeder, taking the place of one of the five.