NUCS
2025 Nuc Sales Have Begun! Pre-paid Nuc orders are refundable BEFORE March 1, and there is a $5 service fee. After March 1, Nucs are non-refundable.
To Reserve Your Nuc, Please Complete the Submission Form AND Add the Nuc to Your Cart and Purchase with Apple or Google Pay. We will be in touch to confirm your order.
Step 2: Complete Your Reservation by Purchasing the Nuc Here
Randy Oliver Nuc
$300.00
Description
Go with the best! Golden West Bees raise really good bees. They are some of the most gentle bees we’ve encountered, they make lots of honey, and most importantly, have performed well against varroa mites. Our Nuc, or nucleus, is a ProNuc box with 5 frames of brood, 1 cageless queen bred for mite resistance, and thousands of bees raised by the Oliver family. Nuc pick-ups always happen at night. Fill out the form with this order, and we will work to schedule the best Nuc night for you based on the information you give us. Thanks, and we will be in touch to confirm your order with next steps.Related products
Read below to find out more about our NUCs
Comes with ProNuc box, 5 frames of brood, 1 cageless queen bred for mite resistance, and thousands of bees.
Biofuel Oasis WILL be available to provide technical support for the April/May Nucs, which includes:
–Detailed directions and video on how to transfer your Nuc into their permanent home
–Free 1 hour Zoom session before Nuc pick-up that covers how “Nuc night” will work, how to best transfer your Nuc, ant protection, feeding, and other critical information
–In-store support to buy the correct equipment to get started with beekeeping.
–Our Nuc Care instructions
HOW TO RESERVE: Pay through the onine portal, or call us at 510-665-5509 or stop by the Biofuel Oasis to pre-pay and reserve your Nuc. Our store hours: Daily 10am-6pm
PICK-UP EVENINGS:
All bees will be picked up between 8 and 10pm at NIGHT on 4 different evenings. (You move bees at night.) We aim to give you a week’s notice for the pickup night. We won’t know the exact pick-up dates until we get closer to spring—it’s hard to predict the weather, and we can’t pick up Nucs if it is stormy.
NUCs for 2024
2024 was our 13th year in a row purchasing NUCs from Golden West Bees! We are happy to support Randy and his sons Eric & Ian in their family-run business.
Three Reasons You’ll Love Randy Oliver’s Bees
1. Bred Only from Colonies that Exhibit Mite Resistance Randy picks 20-30 hives (out of his 1200 hives) that do best against mites each year (keep mite levels lowest). He makes queens from those hives, and those are the ones they breed for your Nucs. Read about his efforts to breed for mite resistance!
2. Gentle Bees
Randy often inspects hives without a veil and gloves and has bred his bees to be very mellow. Gentle bees are great for beginners who are learning to hive inspect, as the bees are more forgiving and take longer to rile up.
3. Lots of Honey
In addition to mite resistance and gentleness, Randy has bred his best honey producers. These Nucs are booming and build up fast. If you manage them correctly, you will likely get two boxes of honey your first year. Leave one for the bees for winter and harvest the other one in October. Hint: If you reserve bees earlier, your bees will come earlier and have more time to make more honey.
Before you get your Nucs
These Nucs grow quickly. We highly recommend that you take our classes so you can successfully inspect and manage them, even if you’ve kept bees before. A refresher never hurts! There are a bunch of zoom classes to take: Backyard Beekeeping, Hive Inspection, & Varroa Mite Management, and more. Go to classes/workshops to register online for these classes.
More questions? Please join Bee Teacher/BFO co-founder, Jennifer Radtke’s bee group, Learn from the Bees