Choose Hive Type

We offer two hive options for our nucleus colonies:

  • 6 Frame Abelo Poly Hive (Collection Only)
    This durable, insulated poly hive is ideal for maintaining stable temperatures throughout the seasons. It comes with 6 frames of healthy bees and brood, ensuring your colony gets off to a strong start. Please note that this option is available for collection only.
  • 6 Frame Paynes Poly Hive (Collection or Free Delivery)
    A well-ventilated and lightweight poly hive, the Paynes option also includes 6 frames of bees and brood. This option is available for collection or can be delivered directly to your door at no extra cost.

Queen Options

Each nucleus colony can be headed by one of the following queen types, depending on your preference:

  • F1 Buckfast Queen
    Buckfast queens are renowned for their productivity, disease resistance, and calm demeanor. These queens are ideal for maximizing honey production and are well-suited to a range of climates and conditions. Due to their calm demeanour, these are our go to queens for hives in Gardens or situations where calm non defensive bees are high priorities for the Beekeeper.
  • F1 Carniolan Queen
    Known for their gentle temperament and winter hardiness, Carniolan queens are a popular choice for beekeepers in cooler climates. These queens are excellent at building strong colonies and are well-suited to environments with varied nectar flows. These Bees are a still gentle (since they are half the cross of a buckfast), and do have a propensity to swarm earlier in the season than others. They over winter extremely well as their brood nest is smaller in the winter than Buckfast's, but have the same explosive spring expansion.
  • Dorset Buckfast Queen
    Specifically bred for the Dorset region, these queens offer all the benefits of a traditional Buckfast queen with enhanced adaptation to local environmental conditions. They are robust, productive, and perfect for beekeepers in the area looking for high-performance colonies. Our Dorset Buckfast have an excellent pedigree, combining the best european genetics with local adaptation of the with the Dorset Bees. They are still just as calm and productive as our F1 Buckfasts, but with the added advantage of local adaptation. Their gentle demeanour makes them excellent for Garden hives, combined with local adaptation, these queens make these Nucs a real premium.