Deep vs. Medium 5 Frame Nucs

Bottomline… 5 frame deep nucs are superior to 5 frame medium nucs simply because more resources (bees, brood, nectar/honey, pollen) are available in deep nucs.

It takes roughly two medium frames to equal one deep frame.

We really shouldn’t have to do the math because we can see deep frames are bigger than mediums, but here we go:

One deep frame (standard foundation/cells) has about 6,900 worker cells. If filled 90% with brood= 6,200 brood cells. ¹
There are roughly between 2,000 and 2,500 bees on a fully-covered deep frame. ¹
One deep frame 65% covered with brood, will produce roughly 4,500 workers. When emerged, will fully cover more than two full frames. ¹

A safe estimate is to half the deep frame counts to get medium frame counts. So if we use the above figures for the nuc set-up, which is normally 2 brood frames, one drawn comb frame, foundation frame, and food frame… lets just focus on the 2 brood frames and say they are 90% full of brood:

Frame Size	Brood in 2 brood frames	Bees Covering 2 brood frames
Deep	12,400	5,000
Medium	6,200	2,500

When you stop to compare these numbers with a 3 lb pound package of bees which contain about 10,000 workers, it starts to set in how inferior a 5 frame medium nuc is. Sure, you’re getting drawn comb which is always a plus, but it’s hard to get over the amount of bees you’re not getting in a 5 frame medium nuc. Sellers would surely have to shake in extra bees to even make it look good but you’re still not getting as many bees as a deep.

It is a myth that 5 frame medium nucs, medium boxes, triple medium set-ups, etc. progress better than deeps or story ½ set-ups. Mediums have a smaller space so it gives the illusion that they are progressing better. If anything the bees are struggling because they had less bees and resources to start out with.

Medium nucs should be started and sold in 8-10 frame equipment for more healthy and better quality bees. The nuc composition should be something like 4 brood frames, 2 drawn comb frames, one foundation frame, and 1-2 food frames. I have never seen them sold this way. I think mostly because there isn’t a temporary nuc box made for 8 or 10 frames. With the increase in lumber costs, it has become not economical to sell 5 frame nucs in wood nuc boxes and cardboard, corrugated plastic, or plastic boxes are mainly used. So making and selling an 8-10 frame nuc in regular, permanent wood equipment would dramatically increase the cost of the nuc and it is difficult to explain to the buyer these issues and differences when compared to deep nucs. For these reasons, we just stopped selling 5 frame medium nucs. Sure we could make the cost of the 5 frame medium nuc cheaper than a 5 frame deep, which it absolutely should be, however, that’s not the point. The point is you’re not getting as many bees as a deep, therefore, the medium is not getting as good of a start as a deep nuc would. It just feels very unethical and unfair to the bees, as well as to the buyer, to sell a 5 frame medium nuc.

^1. Modeling Nuc Buildup, First Published in ABJ June 2018, Randy Oliver https://scientificbeekeeping.com/modeling-nuc-buildup/