why you should do it

Not all bees live in hives with a queen. In fact, 90% of bee species are solitary. They live alone and, while they don't produce honey, are fantastic pollinators.

Many solitary bees like to nest in cavities, holes in wood, or hollow broken stems. Bee hotels are "ready-made" homes for these types of bees. By building a bee hotel and maintaing it, you're helping out your local solitary bees and promoting pollination in your garden.

Building your own bee hotel can be cost effective and fun!

how you can do it

1. Build the frame with any scraps of wood. It can be any size you want. The only requirement is that back needs to be covered.
2. Build your rooms with any scraps of wood. The holes can be various sizes (1/8” to ½”), they just need to be cut to the same length as your frame's back. You can also use hollow bamboo sticks!
3. Mount your bee hotel on a fence post, exterior wall, or any other vertical surface with a couple of screws through the rear wall.
4. Ideally place where the southeast morning sun can strike it. This will encourage bees to warm up at the start of the day.
5. Check in — make sure to evict spiders, ants, and other unwelcome guests.