Packages Considered a Working hive??

[billdean]

When is a new package of bees installed this spring considered a working hive? Would it be after the first brood hatch? Or maybe after you get them trough the first winter?

[GSF]

Colony is when any amount of bees works with a laying queen and calls it home. A production hive is when you have the same except you're looking to harvest honey from it. These are just my off the top definitions. I'm not sure what you mean by a working hive, probably the same as a colony. 

[BeeMaster2]

I agree with Gary. A working hive is when it is producing something for you whether it is honey, pollen, bees, propalis or venom.
Jim

[billdean]

Maybe I am asking the wrong thing. What is a nuc? I guess it would be considered a working hive. It has a laying queen with 3 frames of brood and 2 frames of honey and is steady increasing in size.

Now....... I have 3 hives made from packages that are 3 weeks old that I would consider equal to or have surpassed what a nuc would be. In fact they have more brood, more honey and are building faster than a nuc. Here in Michigan I was not able to get a nuc until the end of May but I could get packages the end of April. So why would I wait for a nuc when an April or early May package will surpass a nuc by the time they are available here? Is not my packages as good as any nuc now, at a cheaper cost, and I was able to introduce them to my property sooner. All things equal if nucs and packages were available at the same time I am sure the nuc would be a better option.
Why would a nuc give any more or less honey than a package the first year considering the above. I believe my packages are well established now and will surpass any nuc that  would be available to purchase right now. Is my thinking wrong here or what am I missing

[BeeMaster2]

Some queens are better than others. Some build at amazing rates, some hardly at all. If you got a package 6-7'weeks ago and she has just about filled the brood box she is a great queen. Better have a super with frames ready to add to it. Some nucs, if they are really an established nuc and not a bunch of bees with a brand new queen, will explode when you put them in a full hives. If your package provider produces good queens, let you friends know who he is. The real test of a good queen is how well she survives the winter next year.
Jim

[billdean]

As all ways thanks Jim............I installed the packages on May 2. Thats 23 days. So far I have had to add another brood box to each for a total of 2 boxes on each hive. I went in to one hive today and they have all ready drew out 5 of the 8 frames in the last 5 days. At that rate I will have to add another brood box in the next couple of days. I noticed today it looks like some orientation flight going on so maybe some of the brood are emerging now. They are do any day. I must have some good queens now, and the honey flow we are having seems to be excellent. I hope all stays well. I guess winter will tell.