How to Create a Bee Hotel for Your Garden

A Simple Guide to Supporting Pollinators

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Why Bees Need Our Support

Bees are an essential part of our ecosystem, pollinating up to 90% of all plants, and 75% of our food crops. Bees are extremely efficient pollinators, and do the job much faster than artificially pollinating crops. Without bees to continue to pollinate, we could lose many of the native plants and flowers that fill our gardens. This is why, as bee populations are declining, it is extremely important to help bees in our own back yards.

One of the main reasons for the decline in bee populations, is habitat loss and habitat fragmentation, caused by human activity. This is why it’s important to provide small habitats in our gardens, like bee hotels, to help make up for the loss of bee habitats.

Bee hotels are a simple and effective way of looking after solitary bees, and are great fun to make too.

What Is a Bee Hotel?

A bee hotel is a small habitat built to provide a nesting spot for solitary bees such as mason bees, mining bees, leaf-cutter bees.

Solitary bees don’t live in colonies or hives with other bees, so they need to find safe spaces to lay their eggs or to rest and hibernate.

A bee hotel is just the right size to provide the perfect nesting spot for a solitary bee, and encourages them to stay in your garden, which means your flowers will also benefit from the bees pollinating them.

Why You Should Create a Bee Hotel

Support Pollinators: Solitary bees make up to around 90% of the bee population of the UK, and many plant species rely on them for pollination, including crops, fruit and vegetables and wildflowers. Solitarily bees are the most efficient pollinators, even more so than honeybees!

Provide Safe Habitats: Many species of solitary bees face habitat loss due to urbanization and pesticide use. Bee hotels give them a place to nest and reproduce.

Year-Round Benefits: Bee hotels can be used by different bee species at various times of the year, contributing to pollinator diversity in your garden, and helping your garden all year round.

Sustainability: Encouraging local bee populations is an eco-friendly, low-maintenance way to support a thriving garden ecosystem and helps to support local pollinators and plant life.

How to Build a Bee Hotel

Materials Needed:

– 1 wooden box
– Bamboo canes (or similar hollow hard-wearing stems)
– a couple of thicker sticks to drill later on
– twigs, moss or straw (for insulation)
– A drill

Step-by-Step Instructions:

1. Choose the Right Location: Place the hotel in a sunny, sheltered spot with morning sun and protection from strong winds. It should be about 3-5 feet off the ground.
2. Build the Structure: Use untreated wood (to avoid chemicals) to create a box or frame to hold the nesting materials. Ensure it has a roof to keep rain out.
3. Prepare the Nesting Tubes: Cut bamboo canes, hollow stems, or wooden dowels to various lengths (4-6 inches), ensuring the holes are about 3-8mm wide for solitary bee species to fit inside.
4. Arrange the Tubes: Place the tubes tightly together inside the structure. If using a wooden block or thick sticks, drill a series of holes in the round end of the stick to mimic the natural nesting habits of bees.
5. Add Natural Materials: Fill any gaps with natural materials like twigs straw, or moss to provide insulation and protection from wind, rain and cold weather.
6. Mount the Hotel: Hang or secure your bee hotel in place, ensuring its stable.

Choosing the Best Materials for Your Bee Hotel

Bamboo Canes: Popular because they’re easy to find and have naturally hollow stems, perfect for bees. Bamboo is also a tough and hard-wearing material, making your bee hotel last for longer.
Wooden Blocks: If using wooden blocks, ensure that the wood is untreated. Drill holes of various sizes into the wood for additional nesting spots.
Hollow Stems or Reeds: These mimic natural plant stems where bees would nest, they can be foraged from your local area, making it a low cost DIY option.
Natural Insulation: Use moss, straw, or dried leaves to line the interior for added warmth and shelter. Finding materials from your garden and local area keeps the hotel as natural as possible.
Avoid Painted or Treated Wood: Avoid using materials that have been chemically treated, as they can harm the bees as the chemicals leech out.

Tips for Maintaining Your Bee Hotel

Check for Inactive Sections: At the end of the season, check for sections that haven’t been used or that have been abandoned by bees. If any sections look damaged or have pests, remove and replace them.
Check Once a Year: Some of your materials may have degraded or been damaged by the weather. Carefully check your hotel and see if it needs more moss or twigs to keep it insulated.
Provide a Water Source: Ensure there’s a nearby shallow water source, like a birdbath, for bees to drink from – ideally keep the water shallow and have a landing spot on the edge for the bees to sit on.
Leave Natural Areas for Nesting: Leave some areas of your garden untouched, such as leaf piles or bare soil patches, for ground-nesting solitary bees. Many modern gardens are overly manicured and remove these vital nesting spots.

Find More Bee Friendly DIYs

Bee hotels are a fun and easy project to add to your garden that really make a big difference by providing homes of solitary bees. Building your own bee hotel helps to protect your local pollinators at a time when their habitats and numbers are decreasing. Bee hotels are also a great way to get the kids or grandkids involved in the garden, while teaching them about the importance of bees too.

You can find more information and ideas for garden crafts and DIYs in our articles, as well as information about bee-friendly flowers, plant care, and bee friendly garden design.