Thank you! This presentation is exceptionally concise. The highlight is the effective presentation of dimensions, providing a clear view of how all elements integrate seamlessly. It's refreshingly straightforward, with no unnecessary diversions or small talk. You get my thumbs up and a subscription
Bruce, I have built several of these just like yours. I started making the frame rest down 7/8" to keep from mashing bees when putting lid on, but that don't work when your adding another box, Then I started just adding a 5/16 thick strip to the underside of the lid, works great!!
I made the nuc box today, thank you so much. The top material list shows 19 7/8 .... video shows 21 7/8. The 21 7/8 worked perfect for the top. Thanks again for teaching us new beekeepers in all you do.
This is a great video on making NUC boxes. Today I saw a 1/4 sheet of plywood for 35.00 and its hard to build any bee equipment when places like Dadant sells a plywood NUC for 26 bucks assembled. If you do not want to build the cover, a 12x24 ceramic tile is a low cost alternative (saw this in Mississippi from an old timer).
I loved those.. I build a 7 frame nuc very similar to yours but I like yours better.. !! Thsnk you for posting!!!! I will be building a few like yours..
Nice and easy Bruce! I actually build mine with bottom boards and top feeders so I can stack them up 5 over 5 and let them build up a while and draw comb.
That works too. Many of my nucs have interchangeable tops and bottoms with independent hive bodies but I move mine around a lot and got tired of having to strap the bottom to the nucs. But there are many ways to do it. I will probably also build some boxes I can stack on top because I like to stack em high sometimes as well.
Hey that’s awesome! Glad you like them! I am about to order some more as well. I am thinking about eventually having nothing but Apimayes in my backyard.
On a Mission Trip in Guyana South America was telling the brothers about you. They work with Africanized Bees down here. VERY VERT Aggressive. Love to watch from north Alabama (Roll Tide)
Yeah I don’t think I have ever experienced truly Africanized bees. Mine get feisty at times. But truly Africanized bees I think are far worse. Thanks for checking in!
Bruce, I just saw this just in time to make me up some nuc boxes! They turned out perfect, I just have to paint them now. Thanks for sharing your wealth of knowledge. I really enjoy your chanel❤ I wish I could have figured out how to attach a picture, we got 4 done!
A suggestion...consider moving your handle up to the lid...not against it, but just a small gap under it. This way you can use your hive tool to pry against the handle to pop the lid off. I learned this from Bob Binnie and it works very well, especially on my telescoping lids....no I dont use inner covers on nucs either. Excellent work! Just wish plywood wasn't so crazy expensive right now.
Should work well. I have some honey supers I made out of plywood back I 2015. Some of them have rotted but there are still several in circulation in my outfit.
Hello - did you ever work out a cut sheet? I was just working on one and looks like you can cut a single sheet into 4 12” wide strips. Then get your sides, top, bottom, back and front pretty easily from that. I think you run out of length for the bottom board because of blade kerf. Instead of having the back piece rest on top of the bottom, you can move the bottom forward, and cut the back a little longer. Did you come up with a better cut sheet idea?
Yes! I do it all the time. Singles, doubles, triples and more. The bees love them. I am not sure how they would do you north but I think they would do fine. The bees love them just explode up into them. If you stack nucs up it is super easy to split them as well. The only problem with nucs is it is tough to keep up with the bees during a flow. I usually try to graduate them into 10 frame equipment when I can but have several this year that have been in the 5 framers all year. I basically ran out of 10 frame equipment. Or came very close.
I made a couple last year that were 3/4" deeper so that I could put a frame with a big queen cell on the bottom of a frame without damaging the cell. Thanks for the video Bruce. Have you caught a swarm yet this year? We finally had a day that got up to 45 F and the bees had a massive cleansing flight. It is amazing how much they can unload after 3 months of holding it. There was a definite smell in the air. LOL
Wow. Glad the poor little things could finally get out and about. I have not caught any swarms yet but I know there have been a few around. I am splitting fluke crazy this year so maybe won’t have the swarming issues I have had in the past. We will know soon enough.
It was about $63 a sheet I think, or something like that when I bought it last year. I bought 8 sheets. The first sheets of this stuff I bought 2 or 3 years ago was $29 I think. Was able to get 16 of these nucs out of just over 3 1/2 sheets I believe.
Great video! For ventilation, do you make an inner cover and use another empty box on top or what would you suggest for manipulation on bottom box as in vid for air flow out the top?
I do not have inner covers on any of my hives but I do have some lids I use that can serve as either a bottom board or lid and they create ventilation. They work well but I like the solid untie of I have to move them. Honestly the bees do fine with or without the upper entrance. But I will say they really like that upper entrance.
Here is the design for those other nucs that I have used with the interchangeable bottoms and lids. I still like to stack nucs up like this. The bees absolutely love nuc sized boxes and will grow into them very quickly. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-7-QEDMzU8_E.html
Thanks for sharing. I have mainly top bar hives but converted some to Langs last summer. I need to make a few Lang Nuks this season for splits, so I will follow your instructions.
Why not double the wall width? That would insulate for all season. Drill out vent holes that you can plug up for winter. Like your nuc box! Thank you! Do you have a simple bee frame design? Thanks!
We only have Advantech (I LOVE that stuff), I get it from construction sites...all scrap, all free! That stuff costs over $100/sheet! Is the stuff you use insanely heavy? I only use the advantech as bottom board or lid.
@@brucesbees I made a 2-frame mating nuc (really, 2 of them) out of what I call 'the thick Advantech' (which around here, commonly found is about 1" thick) ...and good god, I can't believe how heavy they were! The Advantech, roughly, weighs twice as much as 'real wood.'
The nucs that I make with the attached bottom. I cut the frame rest 3/4" deep. The bees don't glue them down the lids as bad. And you can stack them if you have to.
It can. Internal measurements of the box are what really matter so the ends and bottom will still be the same because because the inside of the box is still 7 1/2 inches wide but the length of the box from front to back might vary a bit. The frames have to have a place to rest. It’s a good idea to have a frame or two handy as you make these things to make sure the distances and measurements work.
I buy the frames. I usually buy them either already put together or one piece plastic frames but here is a video on how I put some of them together. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-joNaN-Hx9tQ.htmlsi=A23BVxsK4XeolAPf. It is much easier juts to buy them already put together and ready to go.
I used to make advantech nucs and lids, unfortunately in Florida they don't last 3 yrs now. I think they changed the glue bc I used to get 5yrs out of them
Bees do not like the smell of that glue and compressed wood material. Could be good to apply some coat of melted wax inside. Make frame rest sides 5/8 shorter and cover them by the wider handles from outside. You do not need to cut 5/8x3/8 frame rests in this case.
@@namentatic4978 makes sense to me. I’m going to be making Double nuke boxes for swarm catches and that’s where my brain was at the moment. If the colony is booming, I would do what you were deal by moving him to a Eight or 10 frame deep
But one of the problems I'm having is that they are so tight and with 5 frames all together it can get really hard pulling them out without messing up a comb. Is there a fix for this? I'm doing 7.5 inches for the skinny side also. But its tight enough that I'm worried about combs getting a mess trying to get the first frame out. This happened to me last night. I like that I'm not having to lift a hundred pounds when I use 5 frames. And they are nice early build up also and to save yard space.
I don’t think you specified the thickness of the “Advantech” it comes in three thicknesses (1/2", 5/8", 23/32") . Which one are you using. I suspect that matters. Thanks sincerely for the video
When in doubt, fire up the wood shop and make more boxes, frames, tops, bottoms, screens, top bars…and though I think USB is a wonder material…it is not the healthiest alternative for beehives (for the bees). It is also very short-lived. For the money, soft pine boards will last an eternity longer than USB and provides superior insulation per cubic centimeter of mass. Never give in, never give up…bees will keep reproducing as long as we give them places to go! The more bees, the better! “When bees disappear from the earth, mankind has only four years left to live.” -Albert Einstein
But yes it is ridiculous. I bought these last year. I think I paid $63 apiece for them. Previously I think they were around $29 back in the day a couple of years ago.
@brucesbees it's a great Video! Wisconsin winters will get moisture into the unprotected plywood and break it. So was just viewer advice. I can tell you are handy
