Bumblebee nest box

[smallblueplanet]

Just bought one of these (I guess now I've seen it I should have attempted to make my own ). I did a bit of reading on the Net about them first so with the knowledge that apparently they are unlikely to be (sic!) successful I thought I'd ask if anyone else had tried them?

[andrewo]

No never tried them but did construct a cheaper version just made out of bamboo stack lashed together in a roll to create mini openings along the length and I looked at one last week and it was housed with ladybirds.

[andrewo]

I made them for solitary bees, it takes time but if you have loads of blue flowers they will come - bees can see blue in the spectrum and love it.

[smallblueplanet]

Yeah, even I managed to drill various size holes in a small block of oak for solitary bees - its fascinating to watch the holes 'disappear' with a plug of mud one-by-one!

Ah the bit about blue is interesting - cos for the bumblebee box I read that you should make a 'target' out of the entrance so they see it - might try blue paint!

[smallblueplanet]

No never tried them but did construct a cheaper version just made out of bamboo stack lashed together in a roll to create mini openings along the length and I looked at one last week and it was housed with ladybirds.

Sounds interesting - what dimensions and where did you overwinter it? I keep finding that ladybirds like our window corners for hibernating - good job I never dust!

[andrewo]

A nice blue flower, we're getting all arts and crafts.

[Alice]

If you have loads of flowers you'll have loads of bees. They love dahlias (I grow them from seed evey year) and the bumble bees love autumn flowering sedum. Last summer we got invaded by a swarm of bees and had to get a bee keeper to come and take them away. He reckoned it was a small swarm of about 12,000. It was all very excitment making at the time.

[andrewo]

I cut old bamboo into 10" lengths and lashed them together (roughly 9-15 in a bundle) with string I then put these 'parcels' in various places (1) trees in the boughs, (2) at the base of a clematis plant, (3) by a jamine trellis, (4) by a fence in my herb bed. Seemed to have worked and recycled my old bamboo which was either broken or useless.

Bees adore borage and blue delphiniums, they also love hyssop.

[smallblueplanet]

I think 'swarming bees' are honeybees. Bumblebees are different I believe?

[smallblueplanet]

Bees adore borage and blue delphiniums, they also love hyssop.

There will deffo be borage - need it for the Pimms & lemonade!!!

[andrewo]

Of course, Pimms and borage, I love freezing the flowers in a ice cub trays. I can still have them in winter or else I couldn't possibly drink Pimms! It would have to be rhubarb schnapps then.

[pigletwillie]

Does anybody have a plan for a bumble bee nest box that they could post, I think that they have two chambers but need to know sizes and hole dimensions.

[smallblueplanet]

Bumblebee nest plans

I thought I ought to have had a go but I've not got the patience....

From other stuff I've read the success rate of them being used depends as much on where they're sited as anything else. Try and site them somewhere you see bumble'ees looking for a nest - bottom of hedges, long grass, etc.

[pigletwillie]

Thanks very much for that

[smallblueplanet]

Thanks very much for that

No problem - let us know how it goes, won't you?