Florida pages
A package is not a nuc
A new Orlando colony starts as one of two things, and they are not the same. A third path, the split, comes from an already-working box.
UF's 4-H book, Welcome to the Apiary, says a nuc is a small hive: three to five frames, bees in all stages, honey, pollen, and a laying queen. It is already a colony, just short.
A package is a box of bees, about 3 pounds, about 10,000 insects, with or without a queen, that you install onto empty comb. It is a start. It is not a household yet.
Swarm Control for Managed Beehives adds the split: taking a working colony and making two. Prices live with the seller.
Decision table
- **Nuc.** Frames, brood, stores, laying queen. Faster to a working nest. Still register with FDACS.
- **Package.** Bees in a cage. Must draw comb and accept a queen. More work in the first weeks.
- **Split.** You already have a colony. Swarm Control for Managed Beehives is the paper. Do not invent a harvest figure.
Do not invent 2026 prices. Buy from a seller you can name, then register the result with FDACS. The Osceola extension blog on packages versus nucs was not loading on 2026-08-30. The 4-H book was.