How to Build a Solitary/Native Bee Habitat-DIY

It is widely understood that bees are important. Unfortunately, there has been clear evidence for some time now that reveals the rapid decline of bee species and populations globally. So what can we do to stop this? For this post, we focused on how to create a home for native solitary bees right in your backyard with just a few tools and some wood. There are countless other things you can do and change in your life to help alleviate these issues as well. If you want to learn more about the issues and how you can help, visit https://thebeeconservancy.org/why-bees/ to learn more! For now, let’s dig into Solitary Bee Habitat Creation! Watch the instructional video on our youtube channel here:

How to Build A Solitary Bee Habitat-DIY

Constructing a solitary bee habitat is a simple and effective way to add beauty to your backyard landscape or farm while providing necessary habitat for the native bees. Did you know honey bees are not actually native to North America? In fact, North America is home to 4,000 different native bee species! From carpenter bees to bumble-bees, sweat bees, and miner bees just to name a few. Unfortunately, their habitat has been rapidly removed and degraded due mostly to industrial agriculture and construction. Utilizing those stumps of trees you have in your backyard, you can do a great deed to help the native bees survive and thrive. In addition, they will do great things for all of your plants and wildlife.

Below you will find a brief overview of instructions on how to build one of your own. Or you can call us to come build one for you! Check out our How-To youtube video here to go through each step with our very own Permaculturist David Bailey teaching his process for construction.

Step by Step Instructions 

Step One:

Cut your tree to roughly chest height. If you have multiple trees close together then feel free to vary the heights for aesthetics like we’ve done with the Aspens above. 

Step Two: 

Make another couple cuts with a chainsaw or other preferred saw that creates a typical gable roof pitch

Step Three: 

Cut two pieces of wood for each tree at a length and width that has good overhang around the trunk to protect water from getting into the nests embedded in the trunk. The bees make their nests out of mud, so keeping them dry is critical. 

Step Four: 

Once you have screwed your roof onto the top of the trunk, you can begin drilling holes all through the trunk. Ideally a drill bit between ¼” and ⅜” should be used to drill into the wood. We find 5/16” to be the preferred diameter. It is important to drill deeper than 3 inches but not through the trunk. 6 Inches is generally the ideal depth. Feel free to put as many holes in the trunk as you would like. There is no suggested number for this other than the more the merrier. 

Step Five: 

Now that you have a roof attached and holes drilled, you just have one last thing to do. Ensure that there is mud nearby for the bees to build their nests. After that, sit back and enjoy watching your bee hotel thrive! 

Resources:

1. https://pollinators.msu.edu/publications/building-and-managing-bee-hotels-for-wild-bees/

https://thebeeconservancy.org/why-bees/

2. The Youtube Video