Dear Bumble bee enthusiast,
 
        There are some companies out their which supply bumble bees for
greenhouse crop pollination. One that comes to mind is Koppert Biological
Supply services ( Quebec, CANADA.) They provide strong Bombus impatiens
colonies under the
registered name NATUPOL. Colonies are reared year round for many
different purposes. Please, don't consider this message as a sales pitch.
It is just there are so few bumble bee suppliers around.
        I do have extensive experience in rearing bumble bee colonies,
from queen to colony maturation. Unlike honey bees, the life cycle of
the bumble bee is an annual one. That is,  a single queen will start her
nest in the spring. The nest reaches maturity in the fall, and newly
reared queens mate and hibernate for the winter and start a new colony
the next spring. The old queen, her workers and males do not overwinter.
So if you plan to rear bumble bees on your own, you will have to
start a new nests each year.
There is a procedure used to break diapause during the winter months. This
permits mass rearing of bumble bees year round.  I hope to be rearing
bumble bees next year for my own research. It is a lot tougher than its
sounds, many things can go wrong when rearing them. The first and
foremost thing to consider is the species you wish to rear. Not all
bumble bee species are candidates for domestication. I will try to rear
some of the bumble bees living in the Southeastern US.
                                                Good luck with your bees.
 
                                                Faithfully buzzing,
                                                Blair
 
Blair Sampson
Dept. of Entomology
301 Funchess Hall
Auburn University, Alabama
36849-5413, USA
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