Our hive was not reared from wild, locally-caught bumblebees, but was a commercially-started Bombus hive. Although its queen was descended from local Ontario B. impatiens, she and her colony possesed a few significant differences from wild B. impatiens colonies – differences which caused us to carefully weigh our choices between using a commercially raised hive vs. one reared from a locally caught wild bumble bee queen.
We learned some somber lessons in the end. In the upcoming month, Sarah Peebles (project lead) will write more about art and ethics, what the fate of our bumble bee colony was, why she would not use a commercial bumble bee hive in the future, and why she and strongly recommends that others interested in using Bombus observation hives for art or education raise their own local wild colony rather than purchase a commercial hive.
A cautionary note: Please do not move your bees and wasps to new localities, or sell or give away dirty equipment (i.e., used equipment which may have been infested by parasites). The idea is for people to grow and nurture their *local* beneficial insects. Long distance commerce and problems with hygiene are blamed for many problems (of honey bees, and in some regions of commercial bumble bees, for example), and this concern extends to wild bumble bee populations (in the U.S.A. and Canada, including Ontario) as well as to solitary bees.
