Bumble rearing

[Stedic]

I had a look at the bumblebee nest that was being displayed st BeeTradex - I was absolutely mesmerised by it! Like a chaotic honeybee nest. I could have watched for hours. Between that, the other forum pist about polytunnels and the books by Dave Houlson I’ve been wondering...

How the heck do they produce commercially available bumblebee nests? Presumably some sort of covered breeding area rather than catching mated queens? Or II of queens?

 

[Finman]

.
Bumble bees mate on ground. To rear them you need natural pollen collected by honey bees.

 

[For want of a better word]

I do believe they use II... produced in southern europe and shipped by the millions to growers in Holland.... our strawberry growers bring them in annually