Beware! Is your ‘bee hotel’ a nursery for disease and pests?
Or put another way, why does n’t my bee hotel work and increase my wild bees? I wish, from my experience as a researcher, educator, designer, user and producer of bee boxes, to shed light on the controversy over the effectiveness or otherwise of bee hotels. The controversy is to do with the design, construction and maintenance of bee hotels and in particular, the nest cavities that, it can be argued, have a significant influence on the survival outcomes for bees. Researchers have just published what I have found myself, that bee hotels are not what they appear!
From a customer AM, who bought a bee hotel from another supplier;
‘Did what you said had a look at the bees and sadly they were all dead having been eaten by tiny grubs, how can I be sure this doesn’t happen again. I am really upset., as I looked after them all winter keeping under a porch out of all weathers’.
In their paper ‘Bee Hotels’ as Tools For Native Pollinator Conservation: A Premature Verdict? they found ” at their worst, bee hotels may act as a population sink for bees through facilitating the increase of parasites, predators….and diseases”
A positive experience
You could call me biased as I build and sell award-winning bumblebee and solitary bee observational nest boxes because I wanted to encourage a wider scientific study, education and enhance public awareness with a positive experience from seeing the different bees and solitary wasps that use them. Many people are simply not aware of solitary bees or solitary wasps, hence I have spent a very long time writing and updating a comprehensive set of instructions for my customers. Nevertheless, from both my experiences over the years and that of other researchers, there is substantial evidence that different bee hotels are more effective than others. Some designs just don’t work, have harmful or minimal outputs for bees in terms of survival from predators, disease and environmental factors.
Successful or otherwise?
To me, success is not if the solitary bees use the nest box. Highly like some will. It is a success if a new generation of healthy solitary bees emerges from it the following year and better still in more numbers.
Management and design is key
I believe the key considerations when considering the effectiveness of bee hotels is the ease of management along with how it is designed. Annual and informed management is essential to improve the positive outcomes for bees. Just as you manage the countryside and urban green spaces and in particular nature reserves to improve the outcomes for birds, mammals and plants there is a need to manage insects, including bees for a positive outcome. Some of us wish to do the same with our gardens. Unmanaged bee hotels of certain designs and materials may have their place but the evidence is increasing that the positive outcomes for bees can be minimal or even negative. I invite you to consider my discussion below to enlighten you about the controversy over bee hotels and make up your own mind.
This is my two penneth!!
I have made some videos and given a few explanations as to my experiences as to why many bee hotels can actually kill bees in my garden. I show several other methods for attracting wild bees/wasps and thoughts you may wish to consider before placing them out. I regard myself as a wild beekeeper, especially red mason and leafcutter bees and as such, like a honey beekeeper, I want to manage my garden bees and protect them from pests, predators and the like. A few species of solitary wasps have used my nest boxes. Different pests I have come across, require different control measures, which can also depend upon the nest material in use. My advice would be, if you can’t open it to clean it out, don’t buy it! With homemade/collected materials at the very least, they should be changed annually.
Bee hotels?
A slick marketing and snappy name for people to remember! There is a huge choice of designs, materials etc., out there nowadays, some look really good and pleasing to the eye! Firstly they are not bee hotels! Other insects may use them as an ‘insect hotel’ for temporary resting, shelter or feeding places. The solitary bees, e.g. red mason bees, live as cocoons inside the cavities from late spring to the next spring. Other bees do likewise from summer to summer as do some solitary wasps. Hardly a hotel, more a bee home!
What will use them?
It’s not like a bird’s nest box when you can say in the main, which birds will use it. Other than a few bees and solitary wasps that I do know, which other bees or solitary wasps will use them I have no idea. It is a question most people in the UK cannot answer. Other than a book about solitary wasps Prof. Sarah Corbet, there a very few solitary bee/wasps academics here and finding a book on the subject is frustrating! Though I can fully appreciate the time, effort and expertise needed to write one! There are a couple of interesting books on solitary bees that I would recommend by Steven Falk and Ted Benton. A useful website to visit for photographs and information is BWARS. Then you see one that looks like it to discover there’s another that looks exactly the same!! At least its a start!
Is your ‘bee hotel’ a nursery for disease and pests?
There may well be many unwelcome guests, all after the rich pollen/nectar mix or even the bee egg, larvae or cocoons themselves.
Pollen Mites (Chaetodactylus spp.)
Pollen mites attach themselves to bees using huge claws, (above) attach themselves to bees inside their natal cavity, hitch a lift and return to a nest site where they alight. Once inside the safe environment of a red mason bee’s cell, they breed and can soon become many thousands inside one cell, outcompeting the bee larvae for food, leading to its death or reduce the size of the bee. Smaller female bees have reduced fecundity. For the bee larvae, it is a race against time. According to some researchers, they may also eat the egg before it hatches and even certain later stages of larval development.
a new film with new research
To cater to environmental factors within the cell, probably food scarcity or decreasing humidity, they have developed a survival strategy. Some become migratory mites and migrate as described, waiting till spring when the bee leaves its cell or as it passes through a mite infested cell, often found in huge numbers that it can affect the flight of the bee.
Encysted pollen mite bidding their time inside a Red Mason bee nest
The above mites probably moved out of the natal cell as there is evidence of Cacoxenus indagator frass which means they may have eaten most of the pollen which forced the mites to leave and encyst becoming non-migratory
They can remain in situ inside your solitary bee nest until some environmental cue triggers their activity. It’s a survival strategy that works as they can remain dormant during unfavourable conditions for several years. Your bee nest may well now contain many 1000’s. These methods enable them to maintain their normal host relationship and disperse to gain new hosts.
Nest to nest dispersal
Other than those that hitch a lift (phoresy) on a bee, mites will also disperse within solitary bee nests by walking to nearby nest entrance holes, walking from nest to nest through splits, cracks, holes, gaps, and parasitic wasp emergence holes, all of which can be found in wood, straws, canes, reeds, paper/cardboard tubes.
Wasps and other pests
In my garden, parasitoid wasps, such as Monodontomerus wasps can devastate red mason cocoons, likewise Pteromalus wasps with leafcutter bees. Artificially large numbers of solitary bees will produce a huge amount of frass. Parasitoid wasps, in particular, seek out and can recognise their host’s frass, which gives off chemical cues. Manage these to stop them from eating your bees! For me, that’s essential. I do find these wasps fascinating and they are part of the whole web of life.
Other pests will seek out pollen stores/larvae/cocoons all concentrated in one easy to find location. Many of these pests may otherwise be scarce in wild populations.
Wasps such as ruby tailed, Sapyga quinquepunctata and the cuckoo bee Coelioxys spp. are minor cleptoparasitic pests in comparison to the parasitoid wasps, as is the Houdini fly, Cacoxenus indagator. in my garden currently. This may change as these things do in nature!
Chalkbrood
A fungal disease caused by Ascosphaera spp. (not the honey bee species) infects the bee larvae and kills them. It is scarce in wild populations. Under managed and high densities of bee populations, it has the ability to rapidly spread. Its spores have been found to live for many years. The spread of this disease has to be prevented. Your old solitary bee nest may be a source.
If a diseased infected bee larva dies in its brood cell, the bees further inside the cavity will have to chew through its body as they exit. If they don’t they will die inside. The spores can be picked up by all exit-ing adult bees in that cavity. This does not kill the adult bees themselves, but certainly, the spores will spread to flowers they visit and passed onto other bees visiting them. Their own offspring may themselves be infected as spores drop from the adult bee to infect the pollen that is consumed by the larvae. Once ingested the larva will die.
Transparent tubes
Moisture cannot wick away causing fungal infection of the pollen and the bee larvae die. Raw states “Glass tubes have been found undesirable, because condensation on the inside of the tube killed the occupants”
The tubes are a real pain to clean for adults and children. They made the management of the bees very difficult. I want to observe bees and their parasites. I want to increase bee numbers, not kill them!
Cheap, cheerful but a false logic?
Well intentioned but woefully inadequate
Drilled wooden blocks, a simple to make the DIY attempt, is now old technology and again allows for the increase of pests and diseases inside each hole. Management of them is impossible.
Upon first impressions, the above drilled log appears to be a great success with high occupancy. It probably is, for pests!! The splits make it very easy for pests to migrate from one cell to the next and easy for solitary wasps to parasitise the cocoons. Inserting paper rolls inside is fiddly and any gaps can allow wasps to enter, but can help with pollen mites. They have to be a tight fit and be able to be pulled out. They are liable to get wet in the rain without adequate shelter. It may be a good idea to replace wooden blocks, logs, annually to help prevent pest/disease build up.
Wide windy opened ended tunnels are not liked by solitary bees!
Bamboo tubes are tough, waterproof, cheap and cheerful and should be changed annualy. They are easily replaced and with experience, time spent cutting, sorting re lengths, width etc., can be made to work very well and allows for management of bee cocoons. Inserting paper rolls inside is fiddly and any gaps can allow wasps to enter, bamboo diameters can be variable. Many shop bought ones have nodes halfway down making them smaller or even blocked by a node at the entrance! Many of these are simply too wide and again act like wind tunnels. The brittle sharp edges have not been clean cut and are not very friendly to bee wings! Any cracks or splits would be exploited by parasitic wasps.
Opening bamboo canes to check for bee cocoons
I was asked to advise about red mason bees and offered to examine their old bamboo bee nest, which had been put up for years to encourage red mason bees to use in their showcase orchard, as part of a well known and beautiful garden in the North West. It had not been managed. It may have been put out for the bees but had it been used and what was the result?
The canes were split open to allow us to see what was inside and more importantly, how many red mason bees cocoons there were to pollinate the apples.
Out of all those canes we were left with just a few cocoons, which MAY have been viable ones! Bamboo canes need replacing annually.
Even phragmites canes can be attacked by Monodontomerus wasps…..and allow pollen mites to enter
Reed, plant stems, cardboard tubes and straws
High holed densities may favour the spread of diseases, pests, mites. The different shapes, lengths, positions make it easier for solitary bees/wasps to find their own actual nest. Would need replacing annually. Can be very successful. In the distant past I used hogweed stems, but got no takers. So I don’t bother now!
Reed and plant stems can be very effective for solitary bees and wasps, but open to attack by Monodontomerus wasps and without protection, birds and mice. Wood makes an excellent container to house bamboo, reeds, etc. Metal is may not be a good idea, as it can heat up in the hot sun. The bee larvae may overheat, the nectar may dry up and worst the bees are cooked! Unless of course you put a shelter roof over it or remove it before it gets too hot.
Cardboard tubes
They have to be thick enough to stop monodontomerus wasps ovispositing through them and having a sealed back end is required. They need to be protected from the rain and are best kept inside a waterproof container with an overhanging roof, or the protruding end gets wet. They work admirably but can start to become expensive. Some people put a paper liner inside to help make cleaning them easier. I don’t use these anymore.
Grooved boards as bee nests
These work but need cleaning and managed. You cannot see what is going on and have to unscrew them disturbing the fragile bee larvae if you want to watch them. They were put up next to one another in the same year. The old one I had not used for a few years. It had not therefore been cleaned and I left it like that to see how it performed. The other one on the left was brand new. You can see the bees preferred the new unused one to the old one.
Birds and mice
The British green wood pecker has a 10cm long tongue which is so long it has to be wrapped inside its skull and the greater spotted woodpeckers tongue can extend 4cm out of its mouth. A mesh in front of the nest box is hardly a deterrent with a long barbed tongue. Great tits also relish bee cocoons, as do mice when bee cocoons are left in situ inside reeds or bamboo canes or stored without adequate protection. Managing against such predators will increase your solitary bees. The nest blocks I use you simply turn the whole nesting unit around so they now face the inner wall!
Wrong positioning
Several negative aspects affect the nest box position. If you position the nest box in the wrong place, I have found pests such as ants and earwigs soon find them, both of which can eat the pollen and eggs. Spiders can also take up residence! Weather, wind, rain, shelter, damp and vegetation can all have negative effects.
How positioned
The way and means the nest box is affixed to its permanent place can have negative effects on the bee boxes and consequently the bees.
Cavities
Solitary bees and solitary wasps build cells inside cavities. The length, width and materials used all have a bearing on the success or otherwise for the occupants.
Bigger is not always best.
I would recommend that you do not build large solitary bee nests, albeit some look fantastic! A high concentrations of bees is more likely to attract pests and predators and makes it more easy for disease to quickly spread. Instead have many smaller nest boxes to spread the risk.
This is what I designed to help eliminate many of the above problems with management.
Wild Bee Box with easy adaptable nest blocks for other species
Why use Wooden Nesting Blocks by Nurturing Nature?
Many Solitary bees prefer to use wood to nest in
Easily cleaned and removed from nest box casing
Nest box casing design and dead end cavities allows for additional materials to be added to minimise parasitoid wasps
Easily viewed for inspection and pest/debris removal
Absorbs excess moisture by wicking it away from moist pollen reducing the likelihood of mould formation which destroys cells
Long term investment, natural resource, reuse many times over
Harvesting of cocoons simplified (kids love this aspect!)
With management has the potential to increase your red mason bee pollinators
The dead-end cavities are easily adapted to cater for different solitary bees and harmless solitary wasps
The cavities are designed to save the bees time and encourage more females
Allows ‘loose cell’ or closed ‘cell management’
Widely spaced holes avoids high hole density nest finding confusion
24 reusable cavities for bees, 6 holes per nest block x 4 per nest box
Full detailed instructions and personal after care service.
George,
So much information about bee hotels, and helpful to those setting out on this fascinating hobby’ ” friendly bee watching”. A very easy way to educate our youngsters today and teach them about the solitary bee, the tireless worker, who helps pollinates our flowers, fruit and vegetables, and that without the help of our bees, our gardens and countryside would look very different in the future.
Almost 100 per cent success with both my bee hotels last year (your design) the majority being leaf cutter bees. Looking forward to seeing the results of careful nurturing through the winter!
Cheers George, and thank you for all the information Marian.
Hi Marian, it needed to be said. People spending their hard earned money to help the bees, when in fact, they may well not be. Its a shame for them and the bees.Pass it on please the more people whom are aware of this the better for bees! Thanks, George
Hi,
I am really impressed by your site(s) about red mason bee. It si wonderful that some people can do so much for these interesting insects.
Personally I have my first bee hotel and I am looking for my first bee generation – in next spring. I love these bees.
Regards
Chris
Good luck😀
Thx.
How do you make one of these bee nest please. I was looking at bee hotels but since reading your article will avoid one. I will however look at planting more rose bushes. Any other advice would be much appreciated
Hi Gillian, It’s not only one of the best bee nest, its the design and management of the bees all of which is supplied to customers who purchase one of my award-winning solitary bee observation nest boxes.Cheers George
Hiya, we have a ‘bee hotel’ in our school grounds which last year for the first time had what I think are red mason bees. They have just started emerging but unfortunately despite thinking these bees wouldn’t sting, so safe to be in the school garden area, a little boy was stung on the stomach whilst attending my gardening club. The deputy head has now suggested that, for the safety of the children, we remove the bee house. I feel this would be a great shame for not only the bee’s but for the pupils too. Any suggestions as to how I could keep the wildlife at the same time keeping the children safe? Also any idea why the bee stung? The boy was digging over an empty flower bed at the time ready to sow seeds, he was in no way being a threat. Thanks.
Hi Debbie, I strongly suspect that this was a honeybee, a sting which hurts and leaves a mark. Red mason female bees have a very weak stinger and you would need to man handle it between your fingers, with firm pressure for it to sting. If it did you would hardly notice it as it is like a weak pin prick without the surge of pain you get from a honeybee. Many 1000s school children in N America have mason bees in their school grounds and you know what the litigation is like there! HTH, Cheers, George
Hi George, I liked the design of your bee box until I saw the following picture – https://nurturing-nature.co.uk/wp-content/uploads/2013/08/Watch-the-red-mason-bees-inside-the-solitary-observation-nest-box.jpg
It seems that there is too much space between the wood and the plastic cover, which make it very easy for pests to migrate from one cavity to another.
I only have the picture available to judge, so I could be wrong of course.
Hi Joe, There are several pest management strategies I use to deal with some pests, including a slight design improvement to the nest blocks! Cheers, George
I still love the design George 😉 I’m just worried that after time, due to the weather effects the wood will warp and no longer fits with the plastic cover.
They tend not to get that wet, due to the design!! Some are several years old now and still working fine! Cheers, George
Hello. We were delighted to have we
13 bee hotel tubes filled this year and sealed with a section of leaf. But I have just noticed that the tubes are now all empty. It’s early November. So have they hatched or is some predator eating them. If so who are the likely culprits and what should I do next year to protect the bees ?
Difficult for me to say Ruth. Look on my website for possible answers or ask your supplier. Cheers George
Ruth, difficult for me to say. Search my website for more information or try your supplier can help? Cheers George
I have a couple of the commercial bee houses containing bamboo canes. You mention that the canes should be changed annually, but at which time of year is it best to do this? We have seen solitary and leaf cutter bees use the houses, but have never renewed the canes.
It depends upon which bees used it Lec. If only leaf cutters, I would store them inside the canes immediately when nesting has finished. Difficult to say what pests or diseases are present inside the canes though.Cheers, George
We have this summer set up a bee hotel which has bamboo tubes. We noticed that the tubes moved some distance out of the hotel and this week found one on the ground. Does any one have an explanation for this?
Birds or squirrels? Cheers, George
Hi George,
Thanks for your suggestion. We have no squirrels around and birds would not be able to hover at the hotel front to pull out the tubes even if they were motivated to do so.
A real puzzle !
Regards,
Mike
Hi Mike, Woodpeckers, great tits etc can cling on the flimsyest of vertical wood faces, and do predate on cocoons after breaking open the out mud wall of masons or dislodging leaf pieces or masticated vegetation to seal the outer chambers…. Are any cocoons missing it does seem strange that something appears to have pulled a few tubes out…Cheers George
Very interesting article but what time of the year is best to clean bee hotels to avoid damaging larvae? Any ideas please?
David, Now! Then winter store against mice. HTH, Cheers, George
Just a small comment (not on the bees!) The phrase you write as “two penneth” makes no sense, it may be pronounced roughly like that but is actually “two penn’orth”, that is short for “two pennyworth”.
Why thank you Anne, I’m a scouser and that’s what we say!! Cheers, George
Could I possibly have a copy of your plans to build the bee house?
I have emailed you Pat. Cheers, George
I too would be interested in a copy of your plans to build a bee house if possible. Thanks
The plans for my registered design bee nest boxes are held in the manufacturers safe. Sorry. George
I have a grooved board type bee hotel attached to a wooden fence at the bottom of my garden. It is situated where it catches the morning sun, but is in shade by at least mid day thanks to a large conifer tree, it is placed it at least 6ft from the ground. I understand these “bee hotels” attract different varieties to nest in them and i understand that different bees emerge from the nest at different times of the year. I also understand that males and females of the same species emerge at different times. Upon inspecting the nest I can see some of these tubes are still occupied, and some have emerged, but of those that have, I cannot tell if all the cells right to the back have become vacant. I assume these are of the leaf cutter bee as these cells look what best described as similar to a cigar when I opened up the nest. Some of the tubes have never been lived in and are totally clear, but what I have found in only one of them is approximately three cells which are quite open (not lined with leaves) except for three or four walls separating the cells packed with around 20 or so dormant (but alive) very small maggot type grubs inside each cell. My questions are:1) Are these grubs parasitic? 2) Do the bees maintain these hotels themselves? i.e. do thy clear out old debris to create a new nest, and if not: 3) When is the best time of year for me to clean out the nest and how often should I do this?
Did you not receive instructions from the manufacturer David? I give very detailed instructions with my nest boxes and answer scores of questions every week from my customers…..These grubs will probably be parasitoid wasps, They may clean a little debris but in my experience they do not want to waste valuable time cleaning a cavity out. Late autumn annually. HTH George
I would like to get a couple of your bee boxes. Do you ship to the US?
I have sold many to N. America Ray. I will email you. Thanks, George
Do you ship to Australia? Mind emailing me pricing? I’m keen to try your boxes with our natives solitary bees of cost effective.
Will email you. Cheers, George
Hi George
Fascinating tips on how to improve on the commercially available boxes! I have built some of my own out of bamboo canes in wooden “nestboxes” (which have attracted both Red Mason and Leafcutter Bees) before I saw this site, but there is clearly more to be done.
A couple of questions for you:
1) You mention cleaning out the nesting cavities in late autumn/winter. Are the bee cocoons loose in their cells at this time and able to be collected and stored separately for the winter?
2) The perspex/glass side walls in your design seems to extend to the open front of the blocks. Does light get in and disturb the bees? Would covering the front edge of the perspex/glass help?
Thanks
Nick
Nick I will email you. Cheers G
I recently bought a bamboo bee box or hotel and now I don’t really know where to put it and don’t want to attract wasps or the wrong bees. I put an aluminum sheet on the roof to give it a little overhang and attached it to a pole that I used to use for a bird feeder…Should this go near the house or out by my lilac bushes?? It does get some morning sun by the bushes but not as much protection from wind? Help!!! Thanks!
Difficult to say without seeing the garden Tracy. Did not youngest detailed instructions with your bee nestbox? South facing if poss. HTH, cheers, George
Hi, I have had an insect house for 2 years now. It is one with different sized bamboo canes in it. Last year, I noticed that 3 of the holes were sealed with mud. I checked it one day and there were small holes in each of them. This year, I noticed there were 5 holes sealed with mud and over the last few days, a hole has appeared in each of these. I always thought that these were bees. I read something earlier about a fly with red eyes that invades the tubes and makes a small hole to get out. What do you think?. Also, when and how do I clean the tubes. There doesn’t appear to be anything in them at the moment.
Thanks.
Difficult to say..I clean my nest boxes in September which allows me to clear out pests and sort the cocoons out. Cheers, George
The mud-capped holes could have been mason bees, another common type of solitary bee.
As do some species of solitary wasps.
Great article! If someone is looking for reeds or bamboo for a bee home, how can they be sure they are free of pesticides? If they are shipped from overseas, is it likely that the materials would get fumigated to prevent the spread of invasive species? You don’t want to provide homes that are laced with poison. Aside from going outside and picking reeds yourself, what’s the best way of sourcing them?
Thank you!
Good question Amber.reputable suppliers should be asked this question. Cheers Ge
Help! A couple of questions please! I have a solitary bee nesting in one of the holes in my parasol where the pegs go in to open it. It seems determined to use it, even when we have it tied down when windy and rainy. I have now left it up and use the hole above. It looks like one end has been slightly closed, it is so tiny it is a bit hard to see. Not sure what to do when time comes to take it down. Also (as a result of all the activity)I bought a small round bamboo tube house which now has a lot of debris piling up at the bottom of the lip. Some of it today includes dried up leaves presumably from leaf cutting bees as our roses look like something from a jigsaw. They are flying around and going in, but is it too hot for them there? We are south facing and it is very hot. Not sure what to do. Can you help.
Difficult one with your parasol without seeing it. Depends exactly where the be hotel is sited…you could move it later. Cheers George
Thank you. Just caught it going into the hole, but couldn’t get my camera on it in time. Both holes are now covered at the ends, so as we are getting a new parasol, maybe try at some stage to separate the trunk from the umbrella and leave it in a safe place. Leaf cutter bee still going into a hole in the bee house with a new piece of leaf, so will leave be as well!
Great that folk care about bees but spare a thought for the ichneumons and other parasites! We hate them because of their seemingly despicable habits. But they are also fascinating animals, and unless we mess things up by do-gooding, or do-badding, our beloved bees will survive as for past millenia. The parasites can’t survive without the solitary bees’ success, so just provide plenty of flowering plants and let them sort it out. I’ve not a clue what leaf cutter bees I’ve got but their favourite building material is one specific type of Maple (out of several we’ve got). Anyone know which bee that might be?
They use several different leaf species Martin. Cheers George
Hello, I came across your site while trying to find out when my leaf cutter bees will hatch. I had a bee nest box affixed to a high pergola on my patio, but it was never used. During Storm Doris last year, the pergola was blown down and I put the box on a garden table in front of a fence, intending to put it up elsewhere. I never got around to moving it and this year 15 of the bamboo tubes have been filled by leaf cutter bees. It has been wonderful watching them every day throughout the hot weather, but very difficult to get any decent photos! One tube has been parasitised, I think. I saw a large black insect with a long ovipositor sniffing around the tubes and next day one had got a hole in it but the other 14 seem to be intact. All bee activity at the box has now ceased. Should I put the box into my small wooden greenhouse to store? If I leave it on the table there is a risk it could be blown over and it will be very exposed to all sorts of weather. I don’t know enough about the bees to be sure I am doing the right thing and I don’t want to risk them dying through my neglect. Any advice is very welcome. Thanks.
Put it in the garage out of harm’s way Carole. Put out next late spring. HTH, Cheers, George
Your site is one of the best I have read.
I am very interested in these boxes. I live in Ontario Canada where we have Mason Orchard Bees and Leafcutter Bees. I have read that there are many different Mason and Leafcutter bees. Are these boxes suitable for our bees in Ontario? If so, please send me pricing and shipping costs.
Thank you very much.
Hi Patricia, “`i will email you. Yes bees in Canada use my nest boxes!! Thanks, George
do you have any details of your design or suggestions as to how to put one together? we use nest boxes wooden at the moment
Carmen, I have a Registered Design of my products. They took me 3 years of researching, development, fields test, financial investment and more. Cheers George
Hi George
I am looking into bug house designs with a group of students. I want our houses to be useful rather than decorative. Would your design be suitable in Australia?
I do have customers in Australia and many N.American as well… thanks, George
Hello, not sure if this chat is still live but I would like some advice please. I think I have a decent bee house (and well used through Summer), I took it down and put it in the shed over Winter. On Gardeners World, they said do this and take it out in Spring, put under a big pot with a hole and then the bees will fly out. No bees ever flew out – can I assume if they were healthy and ready to go, they can fight their way through the mud etc? Anyway, I opened it up today and there were plenty of larvae but I guess they were dead? They would be ready to go by April 1st right? I know you mention removing all the larvae in October but I don’t really have anywhere to keep them, so can I leave them in and hope they make it??
Difficult for me to say what exactly is going on and what the larvae are. Keep looking on my web site re solitary bee section you may find the answers there Carrie. Cheers George
Hello, yesterday I saw some female Red Masonry bees exiting my “hotel” which is primarily bamboo and has been in situ for about three/four years. I was quite distressed to see them covered in mites. I have since been advised to clean/change my hotels, use smaller ones etc. but by far the best solution that I have seen is your design. I would be happy to pay for a set of instruction/plans if you would be willing to e-mail informational to where I do this.
Ian, I only send them with purchase of a solitary bee box. Cheers George
Hello. Just looking at the bee nest box. It seems to have observation facilities both sides?? – though tunnel grooves only on one side – can’t quite tell. Anyway, I just wondered how it is fixed – to a post, fence or whatever. It can’t be freestanding as would fall/blow over.
Regards
Kevin A.
Both sides obs, easily fixed to walls, fences etc. HTH, George
Thanks George. Question is HOW is it fixed – screwed to something? Through base, back, side (which would render one observation side useless). Also, how important is height from ground? Most articles say 1 – 1.5 metres. Only practical location I have is about 2.5 metres above ground level.
Thanks
Kevin A
The windows allow people to view the bees. Too high and you cant! Cheers George
Hello,
I only just found this interesting article and hopefully wanted to get your advice. I built a new bee box using bamboo from my garden and placed in an area where we had some successful existing boxes. Early this morning a bird pulled out the lengths of bamboo and the ones which our red masons had filled have disappeared.
I was going to work out a way to more permanently fix the bamboos in until I read this. We have bamboo in pour garden so I can easily replace. For Red Masons, what time of year should I replace the bamboo, and do I leave the ones which have been sealed by bees in place?
As I shouldn’t permanently fix the bamboos, I was thinking about covering the front with chicken wire to keep the birds out. Perhaps a few centimetres clearance to the front? Do you think there are any problems with this approach?
Many thanks in advance,
Nigel
Nigel I am super busy at the moment but feel if you search the net you will find the answers. Cheers George
Hi there we have a two bee hotels but something is emptying out the filled and partially filled cells overnight. This has never happened before and we cant think what it could be. We find little blobs of the bee butter on the floor below with the foliage they use to line the cells. Can you tell us what it could be
Probably Megachile ligniseca. https://www.bwars.com/bee/megachilidae/megachile-ligniseca
Cheers George
Hi, thank you for publishing such a wealth of information about ‘bee hotels/bug boxes’. We put one up in our garden last spring and watched the bees come in and fill up the bamboo tubes with mud. They have now, mostly opened up which I hope is a sign of a successful bee hatching? Since this has happened we now have several bees consistently flying around the bug box, with some returning into those tubes that have opened up. Are these returning bees or are they ‘new’ bees looking for a new nest? Any advice would be gratefully received, many thanks Marie.
Marie, ask your supplier or do a quick internet search. I would not like to advise on someone else’s products and I cant see it!
It is not advice on the product that I am looking for, rather advice about the bees behaviour. There is about 20 bees consistently flying around the bee hotel – I was interested to find out if once the bees have hatched they remain in the same area or if these might be new bees looking for somewhere to lay the larvae? I am happy to upload a video but obviously cannot do so on this platform.
Probably both Marie of your suggestions. Cheers George
Hi, it looks like our bee hotel holes are filled with cotton? Does that mean bees are behind that? Thank you!
Difficult to say Stacy. Cheers George