Make A Bee Hotel
Here is a quick, simple, long-lasting and inexpensive way of creating a home for solitary bees. It took me 20 minutes and cost nothing.
Providing nesting holes for a few species of solitary bee will make it easy and interesting to observe them. You can do this anywhere in a sunny position and I use my windowsills.
All you need is a piece of wood at least 75mm thick, an electric drill and drill bits in a range of diameters from 3mm to 10mm.
Making sure you are drilling in a safe place and that the wood is secure. Drill randomly placed holes into one side of the wood, as deep as you can, but making sure not to go right through, especially if you are doing it on your best garden furniture. Tidy up the holes a little with a penknife to get rid of large burrs that might obscure the hole.
Then position the wood somewhere south facing in full sun. If you want to hang it up you will have to fix some string or wire to make a loop. For children you could write "BEE HOTEL" on it, but the bees don't need it. Stand back, admire your handywork and wait for some warm weather. Mine are placed on our porch windowsill, and there is the new one on top, just propped up with an old brick, but it does make it rather dark inside the porch!
You could also drill holes into fence posts or other wood in a sunny location.
With a little luck you will get a variety of bees prospecting and then filling the holes with pollen or leaves to lay their eggs on. You can watch them very close, they don't mind and they will not sting you. Different species will prefer different sized holes - the 10mm holes are preferred by the Red Mason Bee (Osmia bicornis).
The 3mm holes are preferred by the Large Headed Resin Bee (Heriades truncorum) that plugs the hole with tree resin then armour plates it with grains of sand.
In time you can make more and more and build your colony up.
If you make one let us know how you get on.... Good Luck with making your first Bee Hotel.
If you are very lucky you may get one of these Ruby-tailed Wasps that come to lay their eggs in the nests of the bees - not so lucky for them!
There are other ways of making Bee Hotels and places for mini-beasts to live.
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-make-bee-hotel
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions/how-build-bug-mansion
Here is the Wildlife Trusts guide to solitary bees
https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/blog/ryan-clark/guide-solitary-bees-britain
Comments
Did this last year. Amazing it was used within a few weeks. Thanks for tip about different hole sizes, didn’t know that
19 Apr 2020 19:00:00
Will try this, will have to buy a drill
23 Apr 2020 10:59:00
I’ve been led to believe that the bee hotels, like the one you are showing, plus the ones made with bamboo canes need to either be cleaned out each year or destroyed in case they pass on midges or diseases lurking – is this correct please
23 Apr 2020 10:59:00
I’m very excited about trying this out with my Mummy and seeing what bees we can find nesting in our bee hotel. Love from, Aila (age 6)
23 Apr 2020 11:59:00
Have thick wooden poles round my garden
Will get drilling
23 Apr 2020 12:01:00
Brill, thank you. Have some old offcuts and fence posts— I’m about to get buzzing….. Will be good pollinators for my fruit trees and shrubs…. bees will be less isolated!
23 Apr 2020 13:32:00
Brilliant, love the ideas. Also seen it done with old mugs filled with short cuts of bamboo sticks wrapped in wire and put into the mugs . Decorate mugs with bright colours and hang them by the handle onto a tree branch.
23 Apr 2020 13:47:00
Sounds good. Something positive we can do under lockdown. Thank you!
23 Apr 2020 13:49:00
Have drilled out 2 old fence posts and bees showing interest within 24 hours. Let’s hope they will use them
23 Apr 2020 14:39:00
I would not and do not clean out the holes in my bee hotels because,
• nobody cleans them out in a natural situation,
• they and other insects and spiders overwinter in the holes,
• the parasites are part of our wildlife
24 Apr 2020 07:38:56
Is it better or essential to use untreated wood?
26 Apr 2020 13:02:00
We have solitary bees nesting in the ventilation holes in the bottom of our windows and also in the ground right against the house wall where there is a narrow border with little vegetation
29 Apr 2020 16:07:00
My husband made two of these some years ago and they are very well used. We usually tour Europe in our campervan this time of year and for obvious reasons this year we are at home……fascinating to watch the bees at work this year, usually only see the filled in holes! Also thank you for the information about the identity of the 🐝.
30 Apr 2020 13:41:00
Can you use treated wood, can’t find untreated wood anywo
I have used treated successfully, but would suggest that it is weathered. If new treated wood, make it now and leave it outside in exposed place all winter before putting in final location (somewhere it gets morning sun) Or use logs. Bags of fire logs are readily available this time of year. Or driftwood from a beach. Or use existing fence posts and drill into them. Best of luck, Barry10 Nov 2020 20:52:00
I made a bug hotel with my Grandson Archie and fixed it to a South facing wall. We fixed a 12 mm wire covering to stop the contents falling out. This spring we were amazed to see our lovely garden wren somehow squeezing through the wire and building a tiny nest. Wonderful and fun for the Grandchildren. Thanks to Surrey Wildlife Trust and you for ideas.
27 May 2022 10:48:00
I made some to sell that were made from 38mm timber. So the holes would probably only be about 30mm deep. Would they still use them ??
26 Jun 2023 17:38:00
Sussex Wildlife Trust:
yes, that should be ok
Surely fence posts are tanelised and not good for the larvae, or anything treated isn’t good.
09 May 2026 09:52:00