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How to make a bee hotel [pdf]

82 points by DanBC 6y ago

gerdesj 6y ago
If you do decide to make a bee hotel, then please do this: Beware Birds! If you notice Woodpeckers or other birds attacking the tunnels looking for bee larvae, fix a piece of chicken wire across the front of the bee house. This does not seem to deter the bees. Basically, make sure that a four inch beak (over estimate, three might be OK) can penetrate a hole in the "hotel." I suggest that chicken wire is an integral part and not optional.
app4soft 6y ago
Title should be: How to make a bee hotel (2015) [pdf]
ed25519FUUU 6y ago
For those with 3D printers, there’s some good designs on thingiverse. My favorite is this hexagonal design, which can be easily taken apart, cleaned, and stored at the end of the season. I just printed it and placed it inside the cheap (ineffective) one from Costco I use strips of printer paper to line the tubes. 1. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3457603 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3457603
gorgoiler 6y ago
Do your garden a huge favor today: pile up some sparsely stacked logs or branches and just leave them there, perhaps covered by a tarp. Don’t disturb already fallen wood, of course — current weather conditions should certainly provide a surplus of newly fallen branches without having to find old ones. It’s even more low-effort than a bee hotel and my log sanctuary has been home to hibernating admiral butterflies, hedgehogs, and many fungi and fauna that supply the bottom of the local food chain.
- _Microft 6y ago
  A few dishes or shallow bowels with water around the garden, refilled frequently, will attract a great number of insect, birds and other animals as well. We frequently see squirrels drinking from a bowl placed on the garden wall for example. Make sure to put some pebbles or branchlets into them, it will help insects get out if they fall in. Also: stone piles can host a lot of animals as well.
  - nicolaslem 6y ago
    Unfortunately depending on where you live this is the best way to fill your neighborhood with mosquitoes.
    - pvaldes 6y ago
      Shouldn't be a problem it the bowls remain dry at intervals before to be refilled.
      - _Microft 6y ago
        Exactly this. There are some smaller ones that are constantly water-filled but they have no mosquito larvae either. We already speculated that the water in these small vessels might become too warm because they thrive in the larger garden water tanks here. They are pretty harmless though. No diseases transmitting and the bites themselves are harmless. Also nets at windows are somewhat common here.
TwoBit 6y ago
Bee hotel I recently made: https://imgur.com/gallery/axH0NNt https://imgur.com/gallery/axH0NNt
- LandR 6y ago
  That looks great!

82 points by DanBC 6y ago

If you do decide to make a bee hotel, then please do this: Beware Birds! If you notice Woodpeckers or other birds attacking the tunnels looking for bee larvae, fix a piece of chicken wire across the front of the bee house. This does not seem to deter the bees. Basically, make sure that a four inch beak (over estimate, three might be OK) can penetrate a hole in the "hotel." I suggest that chicken wire is an integral part and not optional.

app4soft 6y ago

Title should be: How to make a bee hotel (2015) [pdf]

ed25519FUUU 6y ago

For those with 3D printers, there’s some good designs on thingiverse. My favorite is this hexagonal design, which can be easily taken apart, cleaned, and stored at the end of the season. I just printed it and placed it inside the cheap (ineffective) one from Costco I use strips of printer paper to line the tubes. 1. https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3457603 https://www.thingiverse.com/thing:3457603

gorgoiler 6y ago

Do your garden a huge favor today: pile up some sparsely stacked logs or branches and just leave them there, perhaps covered by a tarp. Don’t disturb already fallen wood, of course — current weather conditions should certainly provide a surplus of newly fallen branches without having to find old ones. It’s even more low-effort than a bee hotel and my log sanctuary has been home to hibernating admiral butterflies, hedgehogs, and many fungi and fauna that supply the bottom of the local food chain.

_Microft 6y ago
A few dishes or shallow bowels with water around the garden, refilled frequently, will attract a great number of insect, birds and other animals as well. We frequently see squirrels drinking from a bowl placed on the garden wall for example. Make sure to put some pebbles or branchlets into them, it will help insects get out if they fall in. Also: stone piles can host a lot of animals as well.
- nicolaslem 6y ago
  Unfortunately depending on where you live this is the best way to fill your neighborhood with mosquitoes.
  - pvaldes 6y ago
    Shouldn't be a problem it the bowls remain dry at intervals before to be refilled.
    - _Microft 6y ago
      Exactly this. There are some smaller ones that are constantly water-filled but they have no mosquito larvae either. We already speculated that the water in these small vessels might become too warm because they thrive in the larger garden water tanks here. They are pretty harmless though. No diseases transmitting and the bites themselves are harmless. Also nets at windows are somewhat common here.

TwoBit 6y ago

Bee hotel I recently made: https://imgur.com/gallery/axH0NNt https://imgur.com/gallery/axH0NNt

LandR 6y ago
That looks great!