Promoting Sustainable Beekeeping Practices through local production of nucs (nucleus colonies) and local queen honeybees

The Prince William Regional Beekeepers Association (PWRBA) producer SARE project compared hives started from packaged bees to hives started from nucleus colonies (nucs) positively demonstrating higher survival for nuc started hives than package started hives, with survival differences more pronounced in the second year. Education and training resulted in adopting more sustainable beekeeping practices. These centered on utilizing existing colonies to produce sufficient nucs to (1) replace dead hives, (2) increase apiaries, and (3) provide starter hives for new beekeepers and association members instead of relying on commercially produced packaged bees from outside the region. The number of nucs made available to association members in lieu of packaged bees increased dramatically over the course of the project. Queen rearing was successfully initiated.

The Final Report, Appendix A and Appendix B are provided as pdf files in the following links.

• FS08-223 Appendix A
• FS08-223 Appendix B photos
• FS08-223 Final Report 2011