A beekeeper shows how to build a mini mating nuc from recycled parts. The roof uses cheap flashband cut to size, and the four frames are standard national frames cut down with hinges so they swing open into a full brood box once the queen mates. Total material cost is about £30 for ten roofs.
This is how I make my nuc. This is a little mini mating nuc. It's all again, it's all recycled. The roof is covered in flashband. This is the flashbanding. I buy a big roll and then the width of that is big enough to cover a national roof and you get about 10 roofs out of that for about £30. But then I use it on the smaller one. Just opens up, just a simple entrance doorway that I can just— so that's cost literally 2 screws. Piece I wanted to show you inside is inside this has 4 mini frame, and what they actually are is a normal national frame that's cut down with a hinge on. So once they've drawn it out and they've mated, you can spin that round to be a full frame and drop it straight in a national brood box. Same with this one, and then return it back to being 2 half frames. I know there's no wax in that. Pops back inside and the roof pops back on to create a 4-frame mini mating
