New River Valley Beekeepers' Association

If you have a swarm of bees on your property and want them removed, many of our members are available to help. Click here to learn whom to contact.

2022 NRVBA Nuc Suppliers

This list is provided as an informational service to our members.  All financial arrangements are between the seller and buyer.  The NRVBA does not provide any warranty.

Glenn Buss. gbuss28440@aol.com

          Deep nucs, 5 frame

          $175

Randy Muir. randallcmuir@gmail.com. (540) 230-7703. Snowville area

          Deep nucs

Alissa Carter. a84smith@gmail.com

          Medium, 5 frame, VSH Italian

          $185

Fred Jones.  whollyhoneybees@gmail.com

          Deep, 5 frame, mostly Carniolan, marked queens

          $170

Noah Renno. Contact: Appalachian Bee Farm bees@emypeople.net   276-722-2678

          Deep and medium, 5 frame.  Giles county beeyard mix, bred for honey                      production, don’t attempt to work w/o veil.

          $175

Matt Johnston. radtechsurge@gmail.com

          Deep, 5 frame, Italian/Carniolan hybrids

          $200

Mark Donovan.  https://donovanshoneyhill.square.site/

          Medium, 5 frame, includes wooden box.

Jerry Borger  twoltcols@verizon.net. 540-557-7789

          Deep, 5 frame, overwintered with Italian queens.

          $185 includes best five frames from double deep nucs, plus extra bees from   remaining frames

Jeff Miller. Christiansburg.  cell 540.250.6264 hortman48@verizon.net 

          Medium, 5 frame in transport boxes.  VSH Carniolan/Italian

          $175

Herman Hearn. 540-558-8509.  hermanandtheresa@gmail.com

          Medium, 5 frame, marked queens, primarily Italian.  Pulaski Co.

          $150

Richard Reid. rkereid@comcast.net

          Info at  http://www.happyhollowhoney.com/for-sale.html

Brian Craig.  540-230-9954. Email craigb@swva.net

          The bees are local survivor stock. I have 5 frame deeps and mediums for sale. They will be overwintered bees with a last year marked queen. The bees are located in the Willis section of Floyd County and Cana in Carroll County. I may be able to deliver to Christiansburg. My hopes are that the bees will be ready around mid-April. They will be in a Jester Nuc box. I will offer a free short bee course at Willis or Cana. We can go over the frames and explain what you are looking at if you like. Great for the new beekeeper.

          $175

Anne Savage.  anne.savage46@gmail.com  786-942-0777  Giles Co.

          Deep nucs, 5 frame.  Overwintered marked queens

          $175

Sherri Jutz.  sherrijutz@gmail.com  252-626-0814

          Deep, 5 frames, marked queen, bursting with bees

James Hicks. johicksjr@gmail.com. Listed at: https://blacksburg.craigslist.org/grd/d/nucleus-honey-bee-hives-for-sale/7454157048.html

          Medium 5-Frame, VSH Italian/Carniolan Hybrids, Marked Queens, some

over-wintered.

Dave Jersey. Arborman@hotmail.com

  5 Frame Nucs $175 ea

10 Frame colony $325 ea

Unmarked queens – local mutts.  Overwintered really well. As of 4/27/22 mite count for the whole apiary was 1 mite/300 bees.

For those of you who are new to our club, we offer a page dedicated to Internet videos that describe many aspects concerning the art and science of beekeeping. The latest post is a ten-video course on how to manage varroa mites. Take a look.

Richard Reid has graciously shared his presentation entitled “Wintering Bees in the Virginia Mountains.” You can view it by going to the tab entitled “Member Resources” and then by clicking on the menu item “Presentations.” The presentations are listed in alphabetical order. Since the file is quite large, be patient and give it time to load. Remember to give Richard a pat on the back.

Jim and Jerry are going to present the topic of queen rearing basics at our upcoming Zoom meeting this Thursday night. They plan to share methods with us that are appropriate for the small-time beekeeper. Jim mentioned that there is an hour and ten minute video Queen Rearing Basics that was recorded as part of the Penn State Pollinator series. Please be sure to watch this video before Thursday. Of course, if you cannot attend, watch the Penn State video at your leisure.

The information to either order bee packages or queens is in the PDF document below.

Welcome to spring, when young (and old) people’s thoughts turn to love…of beekeeping!!
For our new members, as was explained in the first session of the Beginning Beekeeper’s Course, the best number of colonies to start with is two.  Not one(you lose too many options, too much flexibility), not three (can easily become overwhelming), but two. It’s not too late to change your plans, but time is getting short.

As a reminder, the NRVBA has arranged purchase and subsidized the re-sale to NRVBA members of 130 packages with a required purchase of a replacement VSH queen. To date, less than a fifth of that number has been spoken for. Additionally, the NRVBA has arranged purchase and subsidized the re-sale to NRVBA members of 100 VSH queens (without packages).  Only about 80 percent of these have been claimed. Since our suppliers require an advanced downpayment, in a few days we will have to go back to them and drastically reduce our order.  This may also mean we will have to drive to Chatham to get our packages rather than have them delivered to Christiansburg, since we may not have a large enough order to make it “worth the trip” for our supplier.
The Association made these arrangements to inject some VSH traits into the local environment.  The more VSH offspring drones available to mate with VSH (or even non-VHS) daughter queens, the more mite-resistant our local queens will become.  Unfortunately, this is not a single year effort.  We began last year, with members purchasing 165 (NRVBA-subsidized) VSH queens.  

The NRVBA Board of Directors strongly believe this is a long-term effort worth pursuing, and collectively urge you to reconsider your plans and see if more packages or VSH queens are a good fit.Best Wishes!

Carl Lefko, President NRVBA

For those of you who are new to our association, we offer a resource that includes informative Internet videos. These have been contributed by our membership. They cover the gamut of the art and science of beekeeping. To find them select the Member Resources tab and then pick the category Informative Internet Videos. They also serve as a great resource for the experienced beekeeper as well. Of course, if you have found a resource that may be of interest to our membership, simply add it to the Hive List Serve.

To check out our latest post click this link.

Sharon shared this Virginia Cooperative Workshop. Its focus it upon beekeepers with less than five years experience. To take part, you must first register. It will be a free Zoom call. Click on the following link to register.

Topics will include bee ecology, hive components and construction, beekeeping equipment, bee nucs, bee packages, feeding and caring for bees, integrated pest management and colony collapse disorder.

The beekeepers on this list have all volunteered to make nucs available to beginning beekeepers, and we are grateful for their support.  However, all financial transactions are between the buyer and seller, and the NRVBA does not provide any warranty for purchases.

Alissa Carter.  a84smith@gmail.com   Blacksburg

• Five frame medium and deep nucs and 10 frame deep nucs.
• VSH Italian queens
• $185/$245

Miranda Cox-Pitts.   coxmiranda1992@gmail.com  304 308 0953. Bland/Blacksburg

• Five frame deep nucs
• $145

Jerry Borger.   twoltcols@verizon.net   540-557-7789, 1260 Running Buck Rd, C-burg.

• Five frame deep nucs
• Overwintered, VSH Italian queens
• $185

Brian Craig.   briancraig05@icloud.com  540-250-9954

• Five frame nucs, mostly deeps, a few mediums
• Overwintered, marked queens, local mutts from Floyd and Carroll Counties
• $175

Herman Hearn.  hermanandtheresa@gmail.com  540-558-8509  2941 Blackberry Lane              Hiwassee, Va 24347

• Five frame nucs, deep and medium
• Italian queens
• $185

Fred Jones.   fcjiiiart@gmail.com   Pilot

• Five frame deep nucs, a few mediums
• Mostly Carniolans, some Italian
• $170

Jeff Miller.  hortman48@verizon.net   540-250-6264.  383 Coal Hollow Rd. Christiansburg VA  24073-6721.

• Five and 10 frame medium nucs.
• VSH Carniolan
• $125/$225

Brian Murphy.  murphybr@vt.edu   Craig Co.

• Five frame deep and medium nucs
• Carniolan stock
• $180.  Order by Mar. 1

Richard Reid, Happy Hollow Bees.   rkereid@comcast.net

• Five frame medium nucs
• $175.    Order by Mar. 1

Noah Renno.  Appalachian Bee Farm, 149 Mountain View Lane, White Gate VA, 24134.  phone 540-922-5378. email bees@emypeople.net            

• Five frame deep nucs
• Survivor mix, mostly Italian
• $175 (inc. box)

Josh Wolfer.   joshlwolfer@gmail.com  1702 Beaver Creek Rd Floyd

• Five frame medium nucs
• Overwintered, marked VSH queens, Italian and Carniolan
• $175.    Orders beginning March 1.

Mark Donovan; T/A Donovan’s Honey Hill; 2294 Pony Farm Rd. Maidens, Va. 23102 Beebuddybench@gmail.com 804 339 7820

• Overwintered 5 frame medium nucs are $225. 
• 2021 5 frame medium nucs are $180.