Hi Dick & All,

> I guess it's true after all--don't believe everything seen on the
internet.
>

So which will you not believe Dick?

I personally do not believe they must be sterilized. I capture a bumble bee
nest from my skirting on my home when I was scraping it to build a new
skirting. This colony was built within the insulation and I would bet it was
not sterile. Bumble bees in the wild are just not going to find a sterile
cavity to build the nest. I do agree with you though, you can not believe
all you read on the internet, just read some of the post here on Bee-L and
on other lists. Bees have been taking up residence in a completely non
sterile environment for much longer than man has been around trying to
sterilize everything. I would not worry about trying to set up bumble bee
nest in a completely sterile box. You may not want to use a box over again
after bumble bees set up once upon a time in it though.

 . ..   Keith Malone, Chugiak, Alaska USA, http://www.cer.org/,
c(((([ , Apiarian, http://takeoff.to/alaskahoney/,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/akbeekeepers/ ,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/Norlandbeekeepers/ ,
http://groups.yahoo.com/group/ApiarianBreedersGuild/

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