Solitary Bee House

[Elektrishun]

Built a house for solitary bees.

Apparently in Saskatchewan there are over 350 species of solitary bees. They are supposed to be better pollinators than honey bees.

We have a small vegetable garden and my wife plants flowers all over the yard. In an attempt to help the guys who will potentially help our plants I tried to give them their own Air Bee & Bee.

"If you build it, they will come". I did and I hope they will.

Key features based on reading various websites' instructions on how to build a house for solitary bees:

- use natural materials (I used Baltic birch plywood to sandwich "house sections" together which are made from cedar and lined with paper. The shelter is made from cedar fence boards, left natural, no stain).

- sheltered from rain and wind (hopefully the over hang is sufficient to keep them dry. As well, I read that bees don't like their homes swaying in the wind so it's solidly placed).

- tunnels of various sizes about 6 inches deep and plugged at the back (I used clay to plug the holes at the back).

- homes need to be cleaned at the end of the season (if you plan to reuse the same house you have to clean it. The cedar blocks slide out of the plywood holder and seperate into 2 halves. The plan is to simply remove and discard the paper liners for easy cleaning).

- house faces south/southwest (read that bees need the morning sun to get them started).

- house identification (apparently the bees use color markers to orientate their whereabouts. The brightly colored band around the post is my way of trying to accomodate them so they don't get lost).

- house safety (the tunnels are supposed to be smooth and free of anything that might damage the bees. I sanded the cedar smooth but the paper liners should insure a safe living space. Need to watch for predators such as birds. Will cover the front with a wire cage if I see trouble a brewin').

If I don't get any beesness this season I will go back to the drawing board and try again next year.

 

[David]

Thank you for doing this, we need bees!

 

[YotaBota]

If you can find it, PBS did a show a few years ago "My Garden of a Thousand Bees" that was really interesting. It was a British show that documented a backyard bee population.

We've got a bit of a bare slope out back that is covered in the holes of "Air Bee & Bee" homes.

 

[skippyelwell]

If you are going to clean it out, don't do it at the end of the season as eggs and larvae may already be occupying the nests waiting for the following spring to emerge.
By mid summer all the bees should have dug their way out and if they haven't then the offspring weren't viable and need to be cleaned out anyway.

 

[David]

We don't clean the Fall leaves until well into Spring for this ^^ reason. Too many critters using them to over-winter

 

[Elektrishun]

We don't clean the Fall leaves until well into Spring for this ^^ reason. Too many critters using them to over-winter

Good to know.
Thank-you

 

[Elektrishun]

If you are going to clean it out, don't do it at the end of the season as eggs and larvae may already be occupying the nests waiting for the following spring to emerge.
By mid summer all the bees should have dug their way out and if they haven't then the offspring weren't viable and need to be cleaned out anyway.

Appreciate the advice. Did not read that in my research but now I will have to pay close attention so that I don't disrupt at the wrong time.
Thank-you for the heads up.

 

[Susquatch]

We have 2 wild honey bee hives on our farm. Perhaps more that I don't know about. The wild flowers in the hedge rows and yard are always being visited by thousands of bees. It's quite magical actually.

 

[DPittman]

Yes on the warmer days now my poplar and aspen trees are being visited by bees in the thousands. I'm not quite of sure of the species yet as I haven't looked closely enough yet.
When it comes to bees my philosophy is pretty much "Let it bee".
This thread has reminded me I have a new bee house I need to get out and up.

 

[fixerup]

I am really glad you are not my next door neighbor, my tenant bee would quickly move out and set up in yours. Very well done. I didn't know you needed to cleaned it out. Maybe that is why my low rental unit has been less populated over the years, but still active after 5years. This winter I made three more and put them close by the older one to populate them. I have done in the pass and gave them away has presents to my gardening friends. Here is my first build, made of bamboo stakes held tightly together with bailing wire.

 

[slow-poke]

My wife is a master gardener. I'm picking up a gardening detail here and there from her. When these MG types get chatting they always use the latin name and initially I thought they were just being MG snobs until you realize that there's usually many varieties of the common name displayed at the nursery. More important many of these varieties are all for show with very little benefit to the eco system around them, while the often slightly less showy version is great for the eco system. To that end we now focus on the native eco friendly varieties. Now at times we have so many butterflies it adds a dimension that surpasses any subtle difference in the quantity of flowers. Some of these varieties are just crawling with bees all summer.

 

[Susquatch]

When these MG types get chatting they always use the latin name and initially I thought they were just being MG snobs until you realize that there's usually many varieties of the common name displayed at the nursery.

I love gardening and growing things too. But I'm certainly no snob. I can't remember the common name let alone the Latin. We used to have both white and red triliums at my previous house. I rescued them from a bull dozer where they were clearing for a new subdivision. I know you are not supposed to dig them up, but my motives were pure. Similarly, I was given some wild prickly pear. They had become part of the ecosystem at the old house so I didn't move them with me when we moved. I miss them. On the plus side, the forest here is full of trout lilies in the spring that the bees love. It's a beautiful delicate little flower.

 

[skippyelwell]

I didn't know you needed to cleaned it out.

Love the bamboo idea.
Technically, you don't have to clean them out, the bees them selves will do all the cleaning and boring if they think the hole is the right size but it does make things a bit easier for the bee.
Sometimes you will see a solitary wasp dragging a caterpillar into the hole, it lays the egg inside the caterpillar so the baby will have something to eat as it is developing.
Sometimes that egg doesn't make it through the winter and when you go to clean the holes out mid summer the smell can be gagging.

Wasps are every bit as much of a pollinator as bees are but they are inadvertent pollinators, they head into the flower looking for a meal and end up transferring pollen to the next flower.
I have a soft spot for wasps, they all get a bad rap from yellow jackets but there are hundreds, maybe thousands of different kinds of wasps that couldn't care less about your diet coke.

 

[Elektrishun]

Love the bamboo idea.
Technically, you don't have to clean them out, the bees them selves will do all the cleaning and boring if they think the hole is the right size but it does make things a bit easier for the bee.
Sometimes you will see a solitary wasp dragging a caterpillar into the hole, it lays the egg inside the caterpillar so the baby will have something to eat as it is developing.
Sometimes that egg doesn't make it through the winter and when you go to clean the holes out mid summer the smell can be gagging.

Wasps are every bit as much of a pollinator as bees are but they are inadvertent pollinators, they head into the flower looking for a meal and end up transferring pollen to the next flower.
I have a soft spot for wasps, they all get a bad rap from yellow jackets but there are hundreds, maybe thousands of different kinds of wasps that couldn't care less about your diet coke.

Just going by what I read, not what I know:

"Select a design that is easy to clean and discard tubes after they have been used. Hotels with tunnels that can be opened to remove bee cocoons to be thoroughly disinfected are ideal. If you have removed cocoons place them in a separate container and place in an unheated garage or outside in a protected area and leave them to emerge in the following year."

Solitary Bee Habitat and Bee Hotels — Alberta Native Bee Council

www.albertanativebeecouncil.ca

​

"Maintain & Clean​

Maintenance is often the most overlooked part of having a bee house. Routine maintenance is just as essential as proper design! If you don't clean and maintain your bee house and nesting materials, they can harbor pests and diseases, putting local bees in more danger than if there was no house at all."

DIY - How To Make A Solitary Bee House

Blog post featured on Twinkl in its article

crownbees.com

"The ideal bee hotel is one that allows all the nesting material to be removed each year (or so). By installing fresh nesting material, new tenants each spring will get to move into tunnels free of kleptoparasitic pollen mites and pathogenic fungi."

Guide to building and managing a mason bee hotel » Colin Purrington's blog

In nature, tunnel-nesting bees are perfectly happy to use logs riddled by boring beetles or piles of dead plants that have hollow stems. That habitat is often in short supply in many yards, however, so it’s necessary to provide hotels if you want to attract them. These hotels can be as simple as...

colinpurrington.com

 

[Elektrishun]

@skippyelwell

After your earlier comment I have been reading more about the life cycle. Sounds like I should be removing the houses and storing them in a place that protects them over winter (unheated shed). Then place it back outside in the spring for the bees to hatch.

I will build a second house this winter. Then I will have one for new bees and one for the occupants that hatch in the spring.

Definitely did understand the life cycle part.

 

[Elektrishun]

I will build a second house this winter. Then I will have one for new bees and one for the occupants that hatch in the spring.

Definitely did understand the life cycle part.

Correction :

Definitely did NOT understand the life cycle part.

 

[Elektrishun]

My wife is a master gardener. I'm picking up a gardening detail here and there from her. When these MG types get chatting they always use the latin name and initially I thought they were just being MG snobs until you realize that there's usually many varieties of the common name displayed at the nursery. More important many of these varieties are all for show with very little benefit to the eco system around them, while the often slightly less showy version is great for the eco system. To that end we now focus on the native eco friendly varieties. Now at times we have so many butterflies it adds a dimension that surpasses any subtle difference in the quantity of flowers. Some of these varieties are just crawling with bees all summer.

I can appreciate my wife's love of gardening.

I can listen attentively for a decent length of time.

Then, once there's an opening in the one-sided conversation I will start talking electronics. Within seconds she realizes coffee break is over and it's time to go our separate ways for a bit.

 

[skippyelwell]

Just going by what I read, not what I know:

"Select a design that is easy to clean and discard tubes after they have been used. Hotels with tunnels that can be opened to remove bee cocoons to be thoroughly disinfected are ideal. If you have removed cocoons place them in a separate container and place in an unheated garage or outside in a protected area and leave them to emerge in the following year."

Solitary Bee Habitat and Bee Hotels — Alberta Native Bee Council

www.albertanativebeecouncil.ca

​

"Maintain & Clean​

Maintenance is often the most overlooked part of having a bee house. Routine maintenance is just as essential as proper design! If you don't clean and maintain your bee house and nesting materials, they can harbor pests and diseases, putting local bees in more danger than if there was no house at all."

DIY - How To Make A Solitary Bee House

Blog post featured on Twinkl in its article

crownbees.com

"The ideal bee hotel is one that allows all the nesting material to be removed each year (or so). By installing fresh nesting material, new tenants each spring will get to move into tunnels free of kleptoparasitic pollen mites and pathogenic fungi."

Guide to building and managing a mason bee hotel » Colin Purrington's blog

In nature, tunnel-nesting bees are perfectly happy to use logs riddled by boring beetles or piles of dead plants that have hollow stems. That habitat is often in short supply in many yards, however, so it’s necessary to provide hotels if you want to attract them. These hotels can be as simple as...

colinpurrington.com

Just remember, before people decided to "help", the bees were doing just fine for millions of years.

 

[Elektrishun]

Just remember, before people decided to "help", the bees were doing just fine for millions of years.

True.

I am wondering if the housekeeping is needed because it's a man-made house?

In addition to the house I built maybe I could try growing some native plants that solitary bees use as homes. Then get out of the way and let nature do it's thing.

 

[mickeyf]

There are mixed opinions about cleaning your bee houses yearly. Commercially made mason bee houses often have cardboard tube liners that can be discarded and replaced after the new bees have emerged. Some people do disinfect houses made using solid unlined tubes, but you definitely want to do this when the tubes are empty. A simple, safe approach is to just make a new one each year if there is any question of parasite infection - this one is just a bunch of 5/16" holes about 3-1/2" minimum deep in a chunk of 8x8 I had. I put it up maybe a month ago, and you can see that the bottom row from the left is finished or in progress, as are a couple of the holes the next row up. If all goes well these will hatch early next spring. The screening is to keep birds from getting at the bees. Most people don't bother with this.

My understanding is the the Mason bee lays eggs for females starting at the far back of the tunnel, seals each off egg with mud, and finally lays an egg for a male bee as the last one at the entrance before mudding it off. The males emerge first and hang around waiting for the females to hatch and come out. If at the end of the emergence season there are tubes that are still mudded up and the bees have not emerged, that's an indication that the larva have died, perhaps due to parasites. But you don't want to confuse these with tubes that are being newly used and filled up. The timing and the time gap between last year's emergence and the new year's egg laying is likely to vary considerably due to your regional and local micro-climate.