Nuc frame sizes

Beekeeping - Basics
1

Hi all.
I’ve never had anything to do with bees before, but…I’m doing some forward thinking about setting up a hive for the first time next spring. I’ve got my heart set on a Flow Hive. It will be my first, and only hive whilst I’m learning.

I’m looking at reserving a nuc for next spring, but see that here in the UK, most, of not all nucs are supplied on national, or Langstroth frames.
The video I saw showed the beekeeper just moving the nuc frames into the brood box. To me, this means the hive brood box must fit the nuc frames.

If Flow hives are deep Langstroth size, what do I do if I can’t find a nuc supplied on deep Langstroth frames?

I’d like to start with Buckfast bees, but so far all I can find are nucs on national or Langstroth frames (which size of Langstroth is not indicated).
I’d like to reserve a nuc from a reputable company, and seems like it should be done now, for spring collection.

I did see on this forum a photograph of national frames wire tied to Langstroth frames. Should I buy extra frames from Flow and do this?

Sorry for the completely unmotivated newbie question…I’ve got the books open and I’m looking for a local keeper to mentor me.

2

I’m fairly certain in the UK you can buy both a National and Lang Deep Flow Hive. From there I would talk to your preferred Nuc supplier and order from there.

3

Yes. I can buy both sizes of Flow hive. What I’m concerned about is the size of the frames used in the nucs. Transferring the or a smaller size frame From the nuc box into the flow brood box sounds like trouble to me…,
Maybe I’m over thinking this.
Anyone know, if a company says they supply nucs on Langstroth frames, are they referring to deep Langstroth?

4

Hello and welcome to the Flow forum.

Almost always, yes. Langstroth medium and shallow boxes are very rarely used for brood, so you should be fine. If you have to get a nucleus on National frames, you can even adapt them to use in a Flow Langstroth hive. Very elegant solution described on this forum:

:wink:

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5

Thank you so much!
This answers my question completely.

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