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Talk, tips & how-to on sustainable beekeeping from the North Carolina mountains of Southern Appalachia.
Episodes
Thursday Jan 22, 2026
Thursday Jan 22, 2026
A full overview for beginners of starting with your first nucleus colony. Things to know, things to learn, things to watch out for. Experienced beekeepers: I've asked for your help in creating a TIP SHEET to share with the patrons of this show on starting with nucs. Send me your best tips and I'll include them on the pdf I'm creating for new beekeepers. It will be available *next week* on the patreon post for this episode to assist new beekeepers and to be available for experienced beekeepers to share with their mentees.
Want to add your advice to the TIP SHEET? Email me at fiveapple [dot] bees [at] gmail [dot] com or send me a DM here on Patreon anytime! Please tell me where you are writing from too.
Wishing you all a wonderful week!
Leigh
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About Beekeeping at FiveApple: Leigh keeps bees in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina (gardening zone 6b). She cares for around a dozen hives in a rural Appalachian highland climate. Colonies are managed for bee health with active selection for vigor, genetic diversity and disease resistance, but without chemical treatments for fifteen years. The apiary is self-sustaining (not needing to buy/catch replacement bees since 2010) and produces honey and nucs most every year.
2 months ago
My nuc tip: Beware nucs with diseases and nasty old frames. I am the bee inspector for my part of Utah. In the past two years, I’ve seen a lot of terrible nucs from one supplier who brings them in from California every spring. The frames are disgustingly old. Most of the nucs have chalkbrood and EFB. This year, one even had AFB. The total area of brood in a typical nuc could be covered with one hand. None have capped honey. The state inspectors have found the same problems. They have tried to work with their California counterparts with no success. Beware diseased and nasty nucs!