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A bit off topic; but is it possible to help home bees with basically no "beekeeping"? I'm planting native local pollinator friendly plants but I'd like to "do
by asdkhadsj 7y ago
A bit off topic; but is it possible to help home bees with basically no "beekeeping"?
I'm planting native local pollinator friendly plants but I'd like to "do more".. within reason. I don't plan on buying bee keeping gear, but I'd happily stick a box in the corner of my property and let them go to town. Is that possible without maintenance?
My concern would be that a "real" kept hive would have someone monitoring for colony health. I merely want to toss up some homes/food/etc for the bees, in the same way that I do for birds.
Thoughts?
- xsmasher 7y agoFind out what you can do to create habitats for native bees. Keeping non-native bees (honeybees) would add competition for resources with local bees; that's not what you want. Colony collapse is mostly related to agricultural bees (honeybees,) a non-native species keeps for agricultural purposes. In my area, creating habitats for Mason bees is preferable.
- asdkhadsj 7y agoActually I had already planned habitats for Masons and Cutters :D Those non-colony bees seem super friendly to the "bird home" style donations, so I was mostly referring to if colonies could be helped in a similar manner. Specifically I am in the Pacific Northwest (US), if that helps at all. But yea, I planned on heavily supporting cutters and masons. They also pollinate extremely well.
- Pfhreak 7y agoMason bee homes are super easy to put up! I highly recommend it.
- newsreview1 7y agoJust wanted to add another kudos for making habitat for mason bees available. They're great little pollinators, and are native to north america. (Assuming you're in North America)