Bee House - where to put it?

[Rossa]

A friend has bought me a bee house cos I've just put in some fruit trees and would like to encourage more bees into the garden for pollination and I want to encourage more wildlife generally.

Growing some flowers and herbs they like but not sure where the best place is to put up the house. It has a rope handle but I thought that would make it blow around in the wind if I just hung it on a tree branch.

Any suggestions please?
______________________
"..I went from adolescence to senility, trying to bypass maturity.." Tom Lehrer

[Sweepster]

There's a 'make a bee box' project on the Gardeners' World website, and it just says to hang it somewhere sunny and sheltered from the rain. I'd probably fix one to a wall or fence, unless you could fix it to the tree trunk somehow?

[dogsbody]

I presume it is a mason bee house not a bumble bee nest? If the former I have two, one on a fence, the other on the house wall, both face SW, sheltered frpm prevailing wind and near a supply of damp mud, so they can plug it up. They are fascinating to watch, and useful as pollinators. Mason bees are non-swarming and dont sting so they are great to have around.

[Rossa]

ooooh, don't know which type of bee it is for...didn't think of that. Guess the size of hole in the bamboo bits will give it away.

Sorry if this sounds stupid but do you just keep a bare patch of soil wet so they can get some mud? open ground or in a pot?

[MrsC]

Hi, it'll be for solitary bees. Put it somewhere sheltered, tree or under the eaves of a shed maybe?

[FB.]

I have found that if solitary bee nests are put higher than about 5ft off the ground, wasps set up an ambush by waiting in the holes.
When I tried some at 6ft height, I had about three wasps lurking in every nest cluster.

My best results have come when placed 1-4ft off the ground and in a semi-rain-sheltered position (e.g. against a fence or wall) that faces as close to South as possible.

[Rossa]

Checked bee house and holes are of varios sizes from about 1/4" to 1/2".

I've got a fence that runs North/South so could put on fence post on the side that faces South. There's a tree at one end so that would provide more shelter from rain and wind, but would then be a bit shady. Trial and error I think with this one.

Next thing is to work out how to fix it securely. It has a rope handle but no back to it. About 3-4" deep so would need either a very long nail/screw or wood glue.

Any ideas on fixing it to fence post gratefully received....ta!

[FB.]

With my solitary bee nests (mostly home-made), I have used a pair of netting staples - one on each side. Then put screws through the netting staples and into the fence or wall plugs.
Some of my solitary nests are stood on slabs just off the ground, with another slab on top, to keep the worst of the rain off.
The bees would perfer partial sun on the nests.

Basically, I have a large range of mostly home-made nests - old fence posts with lots of 5-9mm holes drilled in them, blocks of wood and old logs with holes drilled in them, old, hollow, bamboo canes, sawn up into lengths between 6-12 inches and bundled together - wedged - inside 1ft lengths of old drain pipes.
The bees seem to prefer the smaller holes, so if you plan to make your own, I'd suggest about half of the holes at 5mm and progressively less holes as the size increases.
Something like the following should please them:
5mm: 40% of the holes
6mm: 20%
7mm: 20%
8mm: 10%
9mm: 10%

[FB.]

Some pics of my home-made solitary nee nests:
(you might be able to make out some of the holes plugged with mud - often the smaller one's.

Old split log on fence:


Old tree trunk section on slab, with slab on top:


Bamboo canes in drain pipe:


Sawn-up old fence post (very easy to see two of the smaller holes have been used:

[pdblake]

Forget that question, just seen the answers above

[Rossa]

Thanks FB that helps a lot. May have a go at making another one for the allotment. This one's for home. Just planted 4 fruit trees and 5 soft fruit bushes, hence need to encourage bees.