How To Create An Bee Hotel

I have to admit, I love bees and insects, I find them so completely fascinating, and they are amazing pollinators.
But with todays society being so focused on perfectly manicured gardens, or, oh no there's a bug or a weed, spray it, it means a lot of our poor insects and bees don't have much of a chance.
It is therefore vital that we start creating places, even in our manicured gardens for these beauties to live and breed.

Enter bee hotels! Aka insect hotels.


Building a bee hotel is actually really easy, and they can be as simple or elaborate as you'd like. Plus you can create one that fits in with your style of garden.

Below is a hotel I made, in quite literally 3 minutes, that was designed predominantly for my native bees, rather than insects, and this was after having watched them these last few weeks, and seeing size holes they prefer.

These are just untreated wood off-cuts I was given by my mum, that I drilled various sized holes in, to a depth of around 10 cm, some were 7cm as that was the most I could drill in that piece of wood. Remember not to drill all the wall through, it needs to be a single entrance.


Please note if you are going to buy one from someone or a store, purchase something that is made locally and by someone who knows that their doing, avoid mass produced ones, quite often they are made from unsuitable materials and incorrect length materials, these are usually sold at places like Bunnings, Coles and lots of your big brand stores. On occasion though you can find the odd gem, like the one below. Note this one is unpainted, and untreated.


I have a few of these scattered around the place, these are very easy to make, I simply harvested some bamboo canes from my backyard, and cut them to length (10cm+) ensuring one end was sealed by a natural segment and one end open. I then bundled them in small groups, binding with a zippy tie. 
You can use bamboo canes from the store, just make sure they aren't treated.

Another option is using a combination of items. My lovely partner built a small frame from off cuts of recycled wood, in which I have placed bamboo in a variety of hole sizes. I've also used untreated pine off cuts and drilled a variety of holes into it. I may add a small portion of mudbrick, once I figure out a good recipe and small paper straws.
This is what I hope it will look like.

My next project will be using a small untreated pallet, this one will be much larger. It will be filled with:
. Untreated pieces of timber with various 
  hole sizes
. Bamboo canes
. Sections of mudbrick - home made
. Natural timber logs with drilled holes
All holes will be at least 7 to10cm, this ensures that at least some of the young survive predators, such as birds, small lizards and parasitic wasps. 10 cm is preferred!

Paper or cardboard straws are also a great nesting spot!


These two are wonderfully simple, utilising an old tin or mug with either paper or bamboo straws/canes for nesting tubes.


Observation hives like the above are great and can be very educational, they mean as each nesting tube hatches, you can remove the above layers, clean out the cavities, replace the layers and another bee can start again.
Hivecraft  make some great things, like the one below, so be sure to check out their page!


These are just some ideas of what you can create, big or small, everything makes a difference, every hotel helps.

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