Your First Bees: Apiary, Nucs, Transfer & First Season

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Use this practical reference alongside your beginners’ course, your supplier’s instructions and hands-on help from a mentor. Start with the short beginners’ guide for the overview.

Choose your first apiary

An apiary is simply the place you keep your hives. Ask an experienced beekeeper to visit the proposed site before committing.

Permission and people: obtain the landowner’s agreement and check tenancy, site rules or property restrictions. Keep flight paths away from footpaths, doors, neighbours, play areas and livestock.
Shelter: choose a dry, well-drained spot with protection from strong winds and some sunshine. Avoid frost pockets and places that flood.
Space and access: leave room to stand behind or beside the hive, lift boxes safely and put equipment down. Consider winter access and how you would carry heavy equipment.
Water and forage: provide a reliable water source with safe landing places before the colony arrives. Consider flowering plants through the seasons and other colonies already using the area.
Flight direction: a suitable hedge or fence can encourage bees upwards, but it does not make an unsuitable site safe. Keep entrances clear and inspect without blocking the flight path.

Think ahead about security, emergency access and where the colony could be moved if the site or its temperament causes problems. A garden is not automatically suitable simply because a hive fits.

Buy your nucs

A nucleus colony, or nuc, is a small working colony: a laying queen, workers, brood (developing bees), and food stores on drawn comb. It gives you a colony to build up, rather than just a queen to introduce.

Use a reputable supplier, preferably with local support. Ask your mentor to help assess the colony. Confirm:

The number, type and depth of frames, and the transport box arrangements.
The queen’s age and origin, whether she is established and laying, and whether she will travel loose or caged.
Healthy brood at different stages, food stores, enough adult bees and manageable temperament.
Health checks, Varroa monitoring, treatments and treatment dates.
Written arrival, feeding and transfer instructions, and who to contact if something is wrong.
Total price, deposit/balance terms and a weather-dependent delivery or collection plan.

Have everything ready before agreeing an arrival date. If you collect, follow the supplier’s transport instructions: secure the box upright, maintain ventilation, keep it cool and travel directly to the apiary. Never leave bees in a hot parked car.

Explore our National nucs or Langstroth nucs. Ask us about compatibility before reserving.

Transfer each nuc into its hive

Arrange your first transfer with your mentor and follow the supplier’s instructions. Do not open a transport box indoors or in a vehicle. Once safely at the final apiary, put the nuc where the hive entrance will be, allow the bees to settle and open its entrance safely as instructed. Do not leave a transport-closed nuc waiting for days.

The National Bee Unit recommends transfer after a day or two at the new site, rather than leaving a growing colony confined. Choose suitable warm, calm weather; ask for advice if weather, crowding or the supplier’s instructions require a different plan.

Set the complete hive on a firm stand at the nuc’s position. Prepare the correct frames, space and feeder before opening.
Wear protective clothing. Have a safely lit smoker ready and use cool smoke sparingly when needed.
Move the occupied frames gently into the centre of the brood box, keeping their existing order and orientation. Keep brood together; do not insert foundation between brood frames. Avoid crushing bees or the queen.
Place the remaining compatible frames beside the occupied group, with the correct spacing and number for that hive. Do not leave a large empty gap for wild comb.
If the queen is caged, follow the supplier’s specific release instructions; do not improvise. Check the nuc box for remaining bees and the queen, and have your mentor help move them safely.
Close the hive carefully, set an appropriate entrance size and provide feed if needed. Record the transfer and agree the next check with your mentor.

Avoid repeatedly reopening the hive just to look. A planned inspection tells you more than daily disturbance.

Marked queen bee surrounded by worker bees

Get them through their first season

After arrival: food, laying and growth

Check that the colony has accessible stores and is developing. A small colony can run short during poor weather even in summer. Ask your mentor about suitable sugar syrup and feeder use; never feed shop-bought honey. Feed inside the hive, avoid spills and do not feed syrup while collecting honey for human consumption.

A brood frame with capped developing bees and adult worker bees

Spring and summer: inspect with a purpose

At each planned check, record five things: evidence of a laying queen, brood health, food, available space and swarm preparations. You do not need to find the queen every time if healthy eggs and young brood provide useful evidence. Learn what normal brood looks like with an experienced beekeeper.

Add space as the colony needs it, rather than adding every box immediately. A new nuc can still prepare to swarm. If you find charged queen cells or cannot interpret what you see, contact your mentor promptly; simply removing queen cells is not a reliable swarm-control plan.

Keep tools, clothing and gloves clean. Monitor Varroa and choose any necessary authorised treatment with competent advice, following its label, temperature limits, honey restrictions and record requirements. Suspected American or European foulbrood must be reported promptly to the local bee inspector/National Bee Unit; do not move or exchange bees, comb or equipment while seeking advice.

Late summer and autumn: prepare for winter early

Review queen status, colony strength, health and stores before cold weather arrives. Arrange timely Varroa control where needed so winter bees develop in good health. Agree a feeding target suited to your hive and local conditions; there is no single quantity that suits every colony.

Leave the bees enough food. Only harvest a genuine surplus, and be comfortable taking none in year one. Check the roof, stand, strap, entrance protection and ventilation/insulation arrangements with your mentor. Never seal the hive shut for winter.

Winter and the following spring

Check externally after storms, keep the entrance clear and monitor stores by learning to heft or weigh the hive. Avoid unnecessary opening or pulling brood frames in cold weather. If stores are low, ask about appropriate emergency feeding. Continue checks into spring: food use rises as brood rearing increases, sometimes before reliable forage is available.

Before your bees arrive: a final checklist

Sting safety considered and an emergency plan in place.
Beginners’ training, mentor and holiday cover arranged.
Apiary permission, safe access, water and stands for two colonies ready.
Two colonies planned, with each nuc’s frame size matched to its fully assembled hive.
Protective clothing, smoker, tool, feeders for both colonies and records ready.
Arrival and transfer plan agreed with the supplier.
BeeBase registration and insurance checked.
Spare brood boxes, supers, frames/foundation, feeders and suitable nuc equipment ready for growth; swarm-control help and winter preparation budgeted for.

Take it one inspection at a time. Ask early when something does not look right. Contact Andy & Emma about our nucs or return to For Beekeepers.

Useful reading

General introduction reviewed October 2026. Health information follows NHS guidance. Husbandry draws on the BBKA and National Bee Unit; practical decisions depend on your colony, weather and local advice.