{"id":3215,"date":"2025-05-18T15:48:48","date_gmt":"2025-05-18T20:48:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.bohemianutopia.com\/?p=3215"},"modified":"2025-05-31T07:32:27","modified_gmt":"2025-05-31T12:32:27","slug":"big-fix-for-cheap-nuc-boxes","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.bohemianutopia.com\/?p=3215","title":{"rendered":"Big Fix for Cheap NUC Boxes"},"content":{"rendered":"

For the last 2 years, one of the NUC \/ Bee suppliers has been using CHEAP NUC boxes.\u00a0\u00a0 They resemble the higher quality Jester EZ Nuc Boxes – however – there’s a huge difference that’s not necessarily noticed until it gets HOT outside.<\/p>\n

I was making splits, and had a umber of these boxes – and in mid May 2025 (yes – last week) – I noticed that some of the splits in the yellow NUC boxes had baked and died, and some had absconded.\u00a0\u00a0 I had tried to place a board or something onto the blue boxes – knowing that they would absorb a lot of heat from direct sun exposure – but I didn’t figure on the yellow boxes being a problem.<\/p>\n

They were.<\/p>\n

The Jester EZ Nucs are more expensive for a reason.\u00a0\u00a0 They have UV resistant plastics – so last more than 1 year in the sun.\u00a0\u00a0 And – they are well ventilated.<\/p>\n

\"Jester<\/a>

Jester EZ NUC<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"Jester<\/a>

Jester EZ NUC – 9\/64″ Vent Holes<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

Jester EZ NUC – 9\/64″ Vent Holes<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n

THIS is what happened to the bees in the cheaper boxes.\u00a0 The boxes weren’t ventilated, and the bees overheated.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

No Ventilation!!!<\/p><\/div>\n

My fix today – is to use a 9\/64″ drill bit (matching closely to the vent hole sizes in the EZ NUC boxes)\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I have a set of cheap bits from Harbor Freight – and this size seems perfect.<\/p>\n

The EZ-Nuc boxes have 27 holes in the top row,\u00a0 and 26 in the bottom row.\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0\u00a0 I drew 2 lines to attempt (poorly) at a straight line when drilling the holes – they don’t have to be perfectly in line.\u00a0\u00a0 They just need to adequately vent heat – so there’s airflow, and the bees don’t overheat or bake in the boxes.<\/p>\n

When the bees are moved to a real wooden box – be sure to remove any frames that may invite wax moth or Small Hive Beetle – and store indoors away from direct sun or UV light – as the light will QUICKLY degrade the plastic to dust within a season.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

\"\"<\/a>

9\/64″ Vent Holes added<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

9\/64″ Vent Holes added<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

9\/64″ Vent Holes added<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

9\/64″ Vent Holes added<\/p><\/div>\n

\"\"<\/a>

9\/64″ Vent Holes added<\/p><\/div>\n

 <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

For the last 2 years, one of the NUC \/ Bee suppliers has been using CHEAP NUC boxes. They resemble the higher quality Jester EZ Nuc Boxes – however – there’s a huge difference that’s not necessarily noticed until it gets HOT outside.<\/p>\n

I was making splits, and had a umber of these boxes – […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":false,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","default_image_id":0,"font":"","enabled":false},"version":2}},"categories":[96,97,98,83,12,15,903,46,105],"tags":[1035,1030,1032,1034,1033,1031],"class_list":["post-3215","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-bee-yard","category-bee-yard-projects","category-beekeeping","category-bohemian-life","category-crafts","category-harmony-hollow-apiaries","category-projects","category-sustainability","category-swarms","tag-abscond","tag-buc","tag-corrugated","tag-overheat","tag-plastic","tag-ventilation","odd"],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p2ze45-PR","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bohemianutopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3215","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bohemianutopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bohemianutopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bohemianutopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bohemianutopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=3215"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/www.bohemianutopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3215\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3216,"href":"https:\/\/www.bohemianutopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/3215\/revisions\/3216"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.bohemianutopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=3215"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bohemianutopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=3215"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.bohemianutopia.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=3215"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}