# General beekeeping > Bee blether >  price of a home made nuc

## Jon

I was given 20 sheets of electoral propaganda correx last week measuring 48" by 32".
I can make a single 6 frame nuc from a sheet or 4 lids.
The cost of each is about 3 metres of gaffer tape/duck tape  to hold the thing together which is about 28p and two rectangles of 25mm polystyrene which go inside the end bits the frames rest on, probably about 20p worth of polystyrene or you could fish it from a skip if so inclined.
The polystyrene is optional but I like to push the boat out with regard to extra insulation and quality build!
So I throw down the gauntlet to you Scots to come up with a cheaper nuc.
I have one I made 3 years ago which is still going strong.
I have a template for the body and another for the lid and can assemble a complete box in about 30 minutes.
The tools needed are a stanley knife or box cutter knife, a tape measure, a biro, a pizza cutter for creasing the correx to make the folds and a piece of timber with a straight edge for folding the correx against.
correx-nuc..jpg
This is a prototype from a couple of years back. The current model is more stylish.

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## GRIZZLY

Do you put the political blether on the inside or the outside ? If on the outside ,do the bees show political preference?.

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## Jon

I have one I just made where I put the head on the outside.
I'll post a video on U tube when I have bees in it.

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## Jon

This one has a 2010 mated queen.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YYhM2-mhDAo

Admin note: If you insert the URL using the filmstrip icon then it is displayed this way:

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## Calum

Nice Nuc. 
Cheapest I have seen is a banana box with polystyrene blocks to hold the frames up. 
The standard banana box size is just perfect for the Zander frames. Perfect is you have bees in a bee house.
I take it you make the lid out of something porous - so the bees don't sweat in winter / prevent mildew & mold - or do you just lay an old tea towel between the lid and the frame tops?

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## Jon

> I take it you make the lid out of something porous


The lid is made out of the same stuff. There is a 50 mm gap between the top of the frames and the underside of the lid which I intend to fill with fondant and/or insulation.
Polyhives don't breathe either and bees seem to overwinter fine in them.
I overwintered several nucs in these last winter although I have them primarily for summer use.
In winter I tape polystyrene to the front back and top and there is polystyrene inside the two pieces which hold the frames up.
I have 14 nucs in these contraptions at the moment, 7 with mated queens and 7 still with virgins.
They have an internal sliding correx frame so they work as anything from a 2 frame mating nuc to a 7 frame nuc ready to be transferred to a full size brood box.
I use Thorne seconds cedar nationals for my brood boxes but I cannot understand for the life of me why people pay up to £40 for a nuc box when you can make one for 50p.

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## gavin

That was *so* good, thanks Jon!  You might have heard my chuckling on the breeze coming in from the Netherlands.

Do you get the full effect from a half Jim Nicholson?

Reminds me - in some perverted backwards way - of this classic:

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## tumuli

Jon - that's pure inspiration!!!

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## gavin

Hi Jon

Been following your burgeoning Bee Media Tart career with interest.  Nice to see Dromore giving you a good write-up too:

http://tinyurl.com/bnml3e2

The scroll bar on the left suggests that there are more pictures below the side-on view, but it wont scroll for me.  Are there more?

So, that lid.  Presumably you cut a piece to cover the 18x10 inch surface with enough for a rim of an inch or so (maybe even a couple of cm), make the freeing cuts, use your pizza cutter to crease just beyond the 18x10, fold and tape?

Given that I have some vigorous stocks at the moment maybe I need a few of these in the garage ready for next spring.  For those worried about the aesthetic niceties, a quick swipe with a roller brush would make them prettier (unless of course there was an image on the board worth leaving - could always add a new one of course).

cheers

Gavin

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## Jon

For the lid, you cut a poster in 4.
The complete poster measures 48" by 32" so you can make 4 lids each from a piece 24" by 16"
The lid need to fit tightly to avoid blowing off. It measures 18 and a wee bit by 10 and a wee bit so the sides are a wee bit under 3"
If you make it too tight you can correct things by slackening the duct tape.

I re recorded an old favourite this morning.

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## gavin

Lovely video.  Are the bees having a go at Mr Nicolson's mouth or was that some other creature?  I sense that the time is approaching when you need to complete the experiment and invite him round to see your apiary.  Without bee suit.

Thanks for the exclusive insight on lids for the Getty Nucleus 50p Hive.  Much appreciated.

I did find a way to see the extra photos at the Dromore web site but they were just more pictures of the speaker so I think that we can draw a veil over that.  It seems to give you one shot at seeing the pictures for which you need to scroll down, then doesn't let you back.

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## gavin

Looks from here as if he is very messy with the toothpaste in the morning, but I presume that he would wipe that from his face before posing for his election agent?

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## Jon

The bees work away at the paint.
The nucs are durable as that one has been in use now for over a year. I think it was in the shed over winter. I have about 16 of them but generally I turn the heads to the inside to avoid scaring the horses.

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## gavin

> ....  but generally I turn the heads to the inside to avoid scaring the horses.


Very wise.

Don't they scare the bees instead?

Maybe toothpaste was the wrong thought.  Is he the kind of Belfast politician who naturally foams at the mouth?!

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## Jon

If you cannot slaver or produce froth they don't let you through the gates of Stormont.
Never heard of job descriptions?

Ability to slaver essential. Foaming at the mouth will be looked on favourably.

I discovered another interesting fact about the correx nuc on Saturday. I moved one to a friends garden and it fits perfectly inside his WBC lifts and looks like a posh Thorne WBC from the outside.

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## brothermoo

I had some first minister correx in my garage andbput it to use today

Its for rose frames but it has extra space below for frames with queen cells etc so I believe it to be suitable for nationals too (if needs be in a pinch)

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## Jon

One with Iris would be a collector's item!
Don't have any Robinson nucs myself.

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## brothermoo

If you want I could swap you a Peter Robinson for a Jim Nicholson?  
It would be just like football stickers at school. .. except the sheets are a wee bit bigger

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## busybeephilip

Do bees from a particular area have a political preference  :Cool:

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## busybeephilip

I have native bees in a shinner nuc box and they seem to be doing very well

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## brothermoo

I suppose from a native bee perspective a united Ireland already exists so they are happy in your sf nuc

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## Jon

I have DUP stuff up at Poleglass and so far it has survived but I made sure to turn the ugly heads to the inside.

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## Jon

correx-nuc-template.jpg
Someone Pm'd me about a template for the correx box so here it is

Edit.
Gavin. the uploaded photos are still not showing.

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## busybeephilip

> I have DUP stuff up at Poleglass and so far it has survived but I made sure to turn the ugly heads to the inside.


Is anyone taking bets as to how long bees will "last" in Poleglass ?

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## Jon

2+ years so far and really well looked after by the locals at the allotments.
Really good site.

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## Greengage

Jon where did the Corex plans get to I would be interested in making some, If you can upload the pics thanks.

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## gavin

> Jon where did the Corex plans get to I would be interested in making some, If you can upload the pics thanks.


I haven't yet got to the bottom of these uploading issues but if Jon wants to email them to me (when he has time) I'll find a way to show them.

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## gavin

Here are Jon's correx nucleus pics:

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## Greengage

great thanks, Now all we need is another referendum to collect some materials.  :Roll Eyes (Sarcastic):

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