Quality, regionally-adapted queens are the cornerstone of any successful apiary. This resource page is dedicated to giving members information on how to raise their own quality honey bee queens, as well as a list of local/regional queen suppliers.
Raise your own
- NRVBA Past President Jerry Borger’s methods
- California commercial beekeeper Randy Oliver’s “Queens for Pennies” method.
Regional queen suppliers
- Happy Hollow Bees and Honey just outside of Blacksburg owned and operated by member and NRVBA President Richard Reid has mated queens and occasionally virgin queens for sale during the season. Happy Hollow Bees are locally mated and raised without mite treatments or antibiotics. Reid strives to include a variety of mite- and disease-tolerant genetics into his stocks, including VSH, Carniolan, Italian and Russian, as well as selecting for gentleness, good wintering ability and spring buildup and honey production. Contact: rkereid@comcast.net or 540-320-0763.
- Minimal Gap Apiaries in Pilot, VA (near the Floyd/Montgomery line) produces survivor queens from primarily Italian and Carniolan stock. Queens are derived from the strongest production colonies. No chemical treatments are used in any phase of operation. Costs are $25 per marked and mated queen. He can best be reached by email at fcjiiiart@gmail.com. Phone contact is 540-745-2982
- Tim Service in Meadows of Dan offers localized New World Carniolans from survivor stock, pure New World Carniolan, Pol-Line Italians and Spartans (a Carniolan strain with Varroa-Sensitive Hygenic traits developed by Adam Finkelstein from VP Queens in Maryland.) Prices are $30 per queen; marking is available for $3 each. Queens can be picked up, or Tim will ship them priority mail for $12 for a single queen and $20 for 2 to 10 queens. Queens will be available from mid-May and throughout the season on a first come-first served basis. Contact Tim at 276-952-5077 or canoemaker@centurylink.net.
New River Valley Beekeepers' Association 