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<br />Nucleus Hive Info <br />Page 2 <br /> <br />A nuc is not normally intended for overwintering, as nuc colonies do not possess a large enough <br />winter cluster to survive winter in harsher climates. Beekeepers often combine nucs together in the <br />fall to produce a single, strong colony. This results in the loss of all but one queen, but provides a <br />colony capable of surviving winter. In warm climates, nucs can overwinter. Nucs can also survive <br />winter indoors, or in an observation hive. <br />Mating Nucs <br />Mating nucs are a special type of nuc that may be even smaller than nucs that use standard size <br />frames. These tiny nucs are sometimes called mini-mating nucs. Mating nucs are used in a queen <br />mating yard. A capped queen cell is put into a mating nuc together with a sufficient number of <br />attendant worker bees. When the virgin queen emerges and matures (a process that takes around five <br />to seven days from the point at which she emerges), she flies out and mates with up to 20 drones <br />before returning to the mating nuc. When mating is successful a nice brood pattern can be seen on <br />the frames of the mating nuc. Successfully mated queens are caged and shipped to be used as <br />production queens by beekeepers. Queen breeders raise thousands of queens in this fashion. <br />