Beenuk Waxed Cardboard Langstroth Nuc

01 · THE SIZE

The frame rules, not the hive

The question that comes up most is comparing the width of the box with the width of the hive standing in the apiary, and that is not the figure. The box is built to the Langstroth top bar, around 48 cm, and that top bar is the same on every Langstroth hive however different the outside may be. A Hoffman frame — the one with wide self-spacing side bars — goes in just as a straight-sided one does: five of them take up about 17.5 cm, which the box already allows for.

02 · ASSEMBLY

The flaps go in an order

It arrives flat, and that is where nearly everyone gets stuck the first time: the flaps fold in a set order and the joints are glued. Put one together dry before you reach for the glue, because once it is stuck there is no going back. And do not skip the joints at the bottom: bees get into the recesses left in the corners of the base, and getting them out again is a nuisance.

03 · THE GLUE

Honey-coloured hot melt, and not on a whim

Seal it with honey-coloured hot-melt glue. The white or clear sticks are the ones you find in any hardware shop and they are also the ones that fail: in time they hold neither the weight nor the damp, and the box opens at a joint with the colony inside. It is the advice most repeated by the people who assemble these by the dozen.

04 · WATERPROOFING

Paint it, don't dip it

The cardboard is waxed already, but to spend a season outdoors it is worth a coat of waterproof paint or of ordinary hive paint, above all on the lid — or lining the lid with sheet metal. What you must not do is dip it: while the excess oil is still fresh, it bothers the bees.

05 · THE LIMIT

One season, not years

This is the box for the split you take to another apiary, for the swarm you collect and for the nuc you sell: it weighs little, stores flat until the day you need it and costs little per unit, which is what makes it practical when you handle several. It is not a hive to overwinter in; cardboard is a seasonal answer, and the colony should move to permanent equipment as soon as it settles.

06 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It comes flat and without frames, and carries no ventilation mesh or handles as standard. If you are going to move it loaded in summer, sort out the ventilation before you close it.