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Everyone can follow this example and make an extensive bee-hotel.
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I don't think my bees can read.
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Wow, that is pretty. A dry hotel for bees (no water) and a restaurant for bee-eater birds, complete with perches under cover.
Pat Toolan told me bees prefer to drink on wet sand, but it didn’t really work in heatwaves - they still crowded out the thirsty birds, the bees sipping around the edges of the birdbaths.
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#3 of 5 posted
22 MAY 21 by
 jedmar
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Unfortunately, I have to criticize this construction:
1. Large bee hotels are not a good idea. Larva are commonly attacked by parasites. A concentration of larva just makes it easier for parasites to infect the whole community. A better choice is to make small bee hotels and distribute them around the grounds.
2. The bricks with large openings are useless for mason bees. The holes should be in a diameter range of 3-8 mm, for the bees to work efficiently. Imagine that you have to carry tons of mud to close up a gigantic hole where you actually have only 5-6 eggs.
3. The other straw-stuff is not for bees. Bees would prefer not to be mixed up with other insects, who might be predators.
4. The holes in the logs have been drilled on the cut side, which is the usual way humans "help" mason bees. In nature bees make the holes from the side of the logs. The reason is that moisture can enter easier from the cut side and result in destruction of the larva with fungus.
5. Finally, mason bees are less endangered than sand bees. It is recommended to leave sections of the garden unplanted, "naked" with earth and sand, so that sand bees can make their burrows.
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Good criticism Jedmar. Thank you for that.
I’ve had a couple of bad reactions to bee stings and so I would rather have the birds than the bees. However, I know that without bees, we’re cactus. My contribution to bee comfort is my R. brunonii which ends up almost lacy after the leaf cutter bees have been scissoring their circles.
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#5 of 5 posted
24 MAY 21 by
Johno
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I would prefer to call it a Bug or Insect Hotel. This was the purpose behind the teaching and learning for students in the construction of a home for beneficial or useful insects (Koristne Zuzelke). This is shown in the insects in the images .at the top of photo, including a ladybirds (ladybug) and wasp. Not designed or suitable for the European Honey Bees. A different thing for Aust native bees where there are some 2000 species with a high percentage being solitary and which don't store nectar.
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