Build a solitary bee house - PEP BB animal.sand.bee

My bee house seems to working!

Here's a unique take on a carpenter bee house. I was going to build a mason bee house, but I have a carpenter bee problem (they're burrowing into the structural 4x4s on my back porch. And I want the bees! They pollinate my fruit trees. I found the "frame" at a local thrift shop, and my brain went to work. It's all natural softwood construction with metal hinges. I filled the shelves with kiln-dried untreated pine 2x4, and wedged them into place with untreated bottom trim from a previous house project. The holes are 1/2 inch "starter holes" because carpenter bees like to burrow out the cavities themselves. I just gave them 32 starting points. We'll see how well it is inhabited when the warm weather returns, but after the larvae hatch and I cover the holes in my structural 4x4's they'll be forced to inhabit this lovely home or go somewhere else (hopefully not too far away).

Hope you don't mind I did it as a video, it's easier to show what I did than if I used a bunch of pictures.



j

Something I just thought of, with the doors open and the pegs exposed, I could rig something up like little bee watering containers there and knock out another BB! I gotta give this some more thought...

j

Jim Garlits wrote:Here's a unique take on a carpenter bee house. I was going to build a mason bee house, but I have a carpenter bee problem (they're burrowing into the structural 4x4s on my back porch. And I want the bees! They pollinate my fruit trees. I found the "frame" at a local thrift shop, and my brain went to work. It's all natural softwood construction with metal hinges. I filled the shelves with kiln-dried untreated pine 2x4, and wedged them into place with untreated bottom trim from a previous house project. The holes are 1/2 inch "starter holes" because carpenter bees like to burrow out the cavities themselves. I just gave them 32 starting points. We'll see how well it is inhabited when the warm weather returns, but after the larvae hatch and I cover the holes in my structural 4x4's they'll be forced to inhabit this lovely home or go somewhere else (hopefully not too far away).

Hope you don't mind I did it as a video, it's easier to show what I did than if I used a bunch of pictures.

j

While I was moving and putting siding on my chicken coop, I was gently buzzed many times.
One ambitious bee even tried to nest in the screw hole I had predrilled, an unsafe adventure for everyone.
I needed a quick solution.

I looked up local bee info through our extension office and found in early spring mason bees like roughly 8mm holes.
I went with 3/8", though I'm considering making more with 5/16" or 1/4", along with a less uniform design next time.

I drilled ~4" deep holes into the side of an untreated cedar fence board using the drill press, cut it to a reasonable length, then mounted it on my chicken coop (away from chicken access). I saw a resident the very first day

I present for your consideration, The Bee-Line: