Dadant US Nuc HDF

01 · FORMAT

Dadant US at 48 cm, not the French Blatt

This is where most people go wrong. Measure the top bar of a frame you already run: if it reads 48 cm, this box is yours, because it takes Dadant US frames of 48 × 30 cm, the same ones as the brood box of a 12-frame Dadant. If your frames read 47 cm they are Dadant Blatt, the French size, and you need the nuc in that format — in this one they would sit short and hang. Langstroth, British National and Layens frames do not fit either.

02 · WITH OR WITHOUT FRAMES?

Both come with the catches; what changes is the inside

This is the choice you make when ordering:

03 · WHAT IT IS FOR

A season box, not a hive for all year round

Water-repellent HDF stands up far better than cardboard and needs no paint, which is what makes it worth handing over with the swarm rather than getting the box back. It pays to know where the limit sits, though: this is not a nuc to leave out season after season. Under sustained rain the edges will swell in time, and the insulation is thin for overwintering somewhere cold. For transport, making up splits, collecting swarms and selling them, and general season work, it does the job and lasts several years. If what you want is a nuc that lives outdoors permanently, timber holds up better.

04 · BEFORE YOU BUY

It is stapled together, and HDF is a board: small chips can show at the joints along with the odd visible staple. That comes with the material and the assembly and does not affect how it holds up, but it is worth knowing before you open the carton. Check the staples on the floor before the bees go in. It measures 52 × 22 × 40 cm, weighs 9 kg with the frames, and ships 50 to a pallet.