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Five Frame nucleus

Trucks loaded with Honeyfields Bee Farm 5 frame overwintered nucleus colonies
Pre-orders for spring 2027 coming soon

Five Frame Nucleus

Our 5 frame nucleus colonies are bred and raised at our family-run bee farm in Warwickshire. Strong, settled, and ready to transfer into a full-size British Standard National hive on DN4 frames, we are now taking orders for Spring and Summer 2026. If you're looking for honey bee nucs for sale in the UK, our Buckfast 5 frame nucs give you a reliable, proven start.

Read more about our nucleus colonies

What You Get with Our 5 Frame Nuc

Supplied on British Standard National DN4 frames to give your hive the best possible start:

  • Mated Laying Queen: A proven Buckfast queen, marked with the official year colour code and actively laying in solid, healthy brood patterns.
  • 3–4 Frames of Active Brood: Packed with brood in all development stages—eggs, larvae, and sealed brood—ensuring rapid, continuous colony growth.
  • In-Hive Food Stores: 1–2 frames well-stocked with honey, pollen, and supplemental syrup feed to sustain the colony through collection and initial hive installation.
  • Well-Populated Frames: A dense, healthy covering of calm worker bees across all 5 frames, ready to expand immediately into supers.
  • Secure Transit Box: Supplied in a breathable, secure travelling nuc box designed for safe vehicle transport and effortless transfer into your hive.
  • Health Inspected: Thoroughly examined prior to collection for colony strength, calm temperament on the comb, and disease-free brood.

Choose the Right Nuc Option

We offer options to suit your beekeeping timeline and preferences:

  • Overwintered Nucs: Strong, well-established nucs available early in April. UK mated or Imported queen. Having proven their hardiness through a British winter, these colonies build up rapidly to give you a head start on the early spring nectar flow.
  • Seasonally Produced Nucs: Main season availability in May and June. Headed by a current-season Buckfast queen in her prime laying years, these fresh colonies expand rapidly to take full advantage of the main summer nectar flow.
  • Seasonal Nucs (UK-Raised Queen): Available late May to early June. These colonies feature proven honey producing queens with calm handling qualities and excellent brood-laying potential that are bred and mated at our Warwickshire farm.
  • 5 or 6 Frame Nuc: Both colonies will perform brilliantly, but the 6 frame nuc comes with an additional frame of brood and stores, meaning it will usually fill a full hive faster.

Your nuc will be supplied either in a winter polystyrene nuc box or moved into a temporary correx travel box, ready for you to safely transfer into your full-size National hive. Suitable for all levels of experience—from first-time beekeepers to those building up established apiaries.

Collection Only from Warwickshire (Reduced Stress)

To prioritise the health and safety of your colony, all 5 frame nucleus purchases are collection only from our bee farm in Warwickshire. Choosing collection is the safest way to acquire bees, avoiding the significant stress and handling risks associated with couriering live honey bee colonies.

Want to check pickup times or learn how to transfer your bees? Visit our Five Frame Nucleus FAQ for answers on ordering, collection, and getting your bees home, read more about Buying Our Buckfast Nucs, or follow our step-by-step guide on Transferring Your Nuc into a Full-Size Hive.

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  • Overwintered five frame nucleus

    Over Wintered 5 Frame Nucleus With Buckfast Queen

    £270.00

    Our Overwintered nucs are headed by a 2025 Buckfast queen, marked accordingly. Busting with bees and ready to be transferred into a full-size hive. Buckfast bees are known for being very prolific...
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    £270.00
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  • Over Wintered 6 Frame Nucleus With Buckfast Queen

    Over Wintered 6 Frame Nucleus With Buckfast Queen

    £350.00

    Our Overwintered 6 frame nucs come in a free polystyrene nuc box and are headed by a 2025 Buckfast queen, marked accordingly. Busting with bees and ready to be transferred into a full-size hive...
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    £350.00
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  • Overwintered 5 Frame Nucleus with UK reared Buckfast queen

    Overwintered 5 Frame Nucleus with UK reared Buckfast queen

    £290.00
    Our overwintered 5 frame nucs with UK reared queens are headed by a 2025 Buckfast queen bee, marked accordingly, produced by us from imported German and Danish Buckfast breeding stock, open mated in...
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  • Over Wintered 6 Frame Nucleus With UK reared Buckfast Queen

    Over Wintered 6 Frame Nucleus With UK reared Buckfast Queen

    £365.00
    Our overwintered 6 frame nucs with UK reared queens are headed by a 2025 Buckfast queen bee, marked accordingly, produced by us from imported German and Danish Buckfast breeding stock, open mated in...
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    £365.00
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  • Seasonally produced five frame nucleus

    5 Frame Nucleus With Seasonally Produced Buckfast Queen

    £270.00

    PRE ORDER FOR MID MAY 2026 coming soon. Our seasonally produced spring nucs are headed by an 2026 Buckfast queen, marked accordingly. Busting with bees and ready to be transferred into a full-size...
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Trusted by UK Beekeepers & Beginners

4.7 Rating ★★★★★ (79 Google Reviews)
★★★★★

"Purchased overwintered nucs that performed brilliantly... Super condition, very healthy and extremely well stocked. The bees were an absolute dream to handle, super calm on the frame, with prolific queens and great brood patterns!"

Steve Jamison Overwintered Nuc Buyer
★★★★★

"I bought my first Nuc, totally new to beekeeping. Communication was very good, collected bees as arranged with straightforward advice. 3 weeks in and bees are thriving! Lovely calm Buckfast bees, lots of healthy eggs and brood."

Kerri Ielden First-Time Beekeeper
★★★★★

"Collected a bee colony today from Honeyfields Bee Farm and the whole experience was excellent from start to finish. Everything was well organised, smooth and clearly handled with real care for the bees. Granville was especially helpful."

Mark James Local Guide • Colony Buyer
Read All 79 Reviews on Google →

More Information About Our Nucs Of Bees

Everything you need to know about colony setup, queen genetics, and safe hive installation.

What Is a Nucleus Colony (Nuc)?

A nucleus colony is a self-contained, established starter hive designed to expand rapidly into a full honey-producing colony through spring and summer. Every fully functioning 5 frame nuc we sell includes:

  • Mated Laying Queen: A proven queen, clearly marked with the official year colour code and laying in solid brood patterns.
  • Healthy Brood: Lots of eggs, C-shaped larvae, and capped brood.
  • Plenty of Food: At least 1 frame of food stores honey/syrup and pollen.
  • Dense Bee Coverage: Worker bees covering all frames.

Because the colony is already functioning as a balanced ecosystem, it is the most reliable way to buy honey bees in the UK.

Why Choose a Nuc over Package Bees?

Choosing between an established nuc and a "package" of bees is a critical decision for any apiary. Package bees have no drawn comb, meaning they must build every inch of wax from scratch before the queen can lay.

The Nuc Advantage:

  • Immediate Momentum: Your bees arrive with established drawn comb, active brood, and stores, drastically reducing the risk of failure.
  • Hardware Compatibility: Our frames slide directly into any standard British National brood box without messy adaptations.
  • Lower Stress: Bypassing the fragile comb-building phase allows beginners and experienced beekeepers alike to enjoy a successful, stress-free season.

Healthy, Disease-Resistant British Stock

Our nucleus colonies are created at our family-run bee farm in Warwickshire. We select healthy frames of brood and worker bees from our strongest parent colonies, adhering strictly to UK health guidelines. A fertile, mated queen is introduced, and the nuc is relocated to an isolation apiary to prevent flying bees from drifting back to their original hive.

The colony is left undisturbed to ensure complete queen acceptance. Once the queen is confidently laying eggs across the comb, the nuc is nourished with inverted sugar syrup to guarantee explosive colony strength before collection.

Buckfast Queens Selected for Calm Temperament

Our nucs are headed by premium Buckfast queens (with UK-raised and imported options available) bred specifically for UK forage and climate conditions:

  • Beginner-Friendly Temperament: Exceptionally calm on the comb for enjoyable, straightforward, and confident hive inspections.
  • Strong Brood Patterns: Reliable, consistent build-up through spring and summer for optimum honey production.
  • Resourceful Overwintering: Bred to handle variable UK weather, winter efficiently on stores, and resist common brood diseases.

Travel Box vs. Poly Nuc Box & Hive Transfer Timing

Travel Boxes (Vented Correx): If your nuc is supplied in a temporary vented travel box, keep it in a cool, shaded area away from direct sunlight. Because correx boxes are meant strictly for transport, we strongly recommend transferring your colony into a permanent, full-size British National hive on the same day—late evening is usually best when all flying foragers have returned.

Polystyrene Nuc Boxes: If your Buckfast nuc is supplied in a poly nuc box, it is highly insulated and weather-resistant. While there is less immediate urgency, colonies expand rapidly in warm weather—transfer them into a full National brood box before they become overcrowded to prevent swarming.

Feeding & Ongoing Care After Transfer

Although your nucleus colony contains initial food stores, moving it into a full-size hive with empty foundation frames requires massive amounts of energy for wax building. Always feed inverted sugar syrup or a suitable beekeeper feed immediately after transfer to help worker bees draw out the new frames quickly.

Monitor food levels regularly during nectar gaps or cold spring weather to ensure your expanding colony never faces starvation.

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