Rearing
bumblebees commercially requires:
An initial breeding population of bumblebees
Rearing facilities with controlled temperature &
humidity and red & white lighting
Deep-freeze storage
Refrigerator storage
Cleaning facilities with floor drains
Dark workrooms with red and white lighting
Approx. one production person per 1,000 hives sold per
year.
Also:
A supply of frozen fresh bee pollen
A supply of sugar syrup
Rearing equipment
Suitable hive containers for dispatch and use
To more
accurately estimate set-up cost the following is
needed:
Overall area of greenhouses
Typical size of greenhouses
Potential crops with their areas
Typical length of growing season, usually related to
whether or not the greenhouses are heated
The cost of this can vary according to sophistication of
equipment, back-up control & alarm systems and the size
of the market to be addressed. While the facilities can be
elaborate and purpose built, with expensive
computer-controlled equipment, this is not necessary. Very
useful, economical production facilities can be created
using redundant insulated shipping containers in an
ordinary warehouse, using off-the-shelf control systems.
This type of set-up has the added advantage of being easily
relocatable in the event that the market shifts to a
different area, as is the case since the North American
market came to be dominated by the rapid expansion of the
Mexican greenhouse industry.