A. Before picking up your nuc, you should first prepare for their arrival. You will need the standard tools such as a veil, hive tool, smoker, and frame grips. Gloves are an option. In addition you should have a full hive, including supers. But for the purpose of this guide we'll just stick to what you'll need when you install your nuc.

B. The first thing you should do is make sure you have a good spot for your new bees. This should be somewhere where the bees will not bother or frighten your neighbors. The last thing you need is for someone to get stung and sue you, or get beekeeping banned in your city or town. In addition to being out of the way, this new home should not be a location that floods. It would also be a good idea to find a location that gets early morning sun, and early afternoon shade.

C. Next get a deep hive body ready (or medium if you ordered a medium nuc), and five or six frames depending on how many frames will come in your nuc.

D. In your new location place a hive stand (can be cement blocks, or anything that can hold up the weight of a full hive), then place the bottom board on top of that, then the hive body. Place five or six frames in the hive body, and put an entrance reducer on.

E. Chances are that if you ordered a nuc, it will come in a cardboard box similar to the one pictured here. Take the nuc out to the hive and sit it down.

F. Now open up the hive, and remove all but three frames. These remaining three frames should be against the wall of the hive, all on one side.

G. Next you will need to smoke the bees. Do not smoke them to much, they are already under enough stress from being closed up and moved. The smoke that is blowing into the nuc box should be cool, hot smoke can injure the bees and excite others to sting. A good trick is to pull some green grass and stuff it in the smoker above the ambers. This should cool the smoke, and keep any coals from blown out into the nuc box.

H. Wait at least one minute after smoking the bees. Now remove the lid. Then using your frame grips and hive tool, slowly and gently remove one of the outer most frames, and quickly inspect both sides for the queen. Make sure you know what a queen looks like before you attempt to install your nuc. If you find the queen, be extra careful with that frame.

I. Now place that frame in the hive approximately an inch or two away from the other frames. Then slowly slide it up against the other frames, making sure not to crush any bees. Watch for the side bars, they like to cross from one side to the other in that area when the frame is out of the hive. If you crush a couple bees don't worry, just move on and try not to do it again.

J. Now remove the next frame from the nuc box. Inspect it for the queen, and repeat step I. Repeat this until all the frames that were in the nuc box are in the hive. If you don't find the queen, don't worry just move on. Do not spend a lot of time looking for her right now. The goal is to install the nuc, not to the find the queen.

K. Now place the remaining frames in the hive using the same method of placing it in the hive, then sliding it sideways until its up against the previous frame. Note that you won't be able to do this with the last frame. When you are done, you should have 10 frames in the hive.

L. Now turn the nuc box upside down over the hive and knock the remaining bees out into the hive. If you haven't found the queen yet, look its time to look in the nuc box to make sure she's not hanging on in there. If there are a few worker bees left, don't worry about it. Just sit the box down beside the hive and they'll find their way into the hive.

M. Now place the inner cover on the hive. Place a shim on each side of the hole in the inner cover, and place a bottle feeder upside down on the shims. Place another hive body over the feeder, then put the outer cover on. Your done!

Note: You will need to feed your new hive until they get well established. Two mistakes that are commonly made by new beekeepers is not feeding a new nuc or package, and overfeeding their new nuc or package. You just need to feed them enough to help them draw comb, you don't need to fill the comb with syrup unless there are no nectar flows. Better yet if you have drawn comb, give it to them. Do not give them a second box until the first box is filled with bees. They have to be strong enough to defend it first.