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Bumble bee box

  • 20-03-2017 1:15pm
    #1
    Half-cocked
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,319 ✭✭✭


    Watching the big queen bumble bees buzzing around my garden and thinking about building a nest box or two. Can anyone advise me on designs that they have had success with? Also, I read online that you should discard a box once it has been used to eliminate parasites. Couple of years ago I had Bombus lapidaries take over my hedgehog box.


Comments

  • #2
    Hotei
    Closed Accounts Posts: 506 ✭✭✭Hotei


    I made a Bumblebee nest box several years ago, but it seemed of little interest to visiting female Bumblebees. Of course, it's always worthwhile giving them a helping hand, but according to this article I read last week, research would suggest few Bumblebees choose these boxes to nest in:

    http://www.dailymail.co.uk/sciencetech/article-1385669/Why-trendy-bumblebee-nest-boxes-really-waste-time.html

    Something you may have more success with is a solitary bee nesting box.
    I made a solitary bee nest box a couple of weeks ago from wood offcuts lying about (although I did spend a small fortune on bamboo canes!).

    33185599690_839de05ae4_b.jpg

    I haven't found a home for it yet, but it needs a sunny, sheltered spot.
    I had a few visits from solitary bees (Mason bees and Leafcutters) last year, and hopefully the box will encourage more to visit the garden this year. It will no doubt attract parasitic wasps too. It's also important to provide nectar and pollen sources, so I planted a small bed of herbaceous perennials which pollinators love.

    Last year's visitors:

    Red Mason Bee Osmia rufa

    26723870364_2100dc241a_b.jpg

    27260553481_8fa6fc6aa2_b.jpg


    Megachile centucularis (Leafcutter)

    20933122509_2918602d9d_c.jpg


    Megachile willughbiella (Leafcutter)

    27462223503_4232f0af56_b.jpg


  • #3
    ytpe2r5bxkn0c1
    Closed Accounts Posts: 32,688 ✭✭✭✭ytpe2r5bxkn0c1


    I have had various Bumble Bee boxes and Bug Boxes over the years and none have been successful. Plenty of Bumble Bee nests, plenty of solitary bee and bugs building around the garden but just not in the structures I provided.


  • #4
    Half-cocked
    Registered Users, Registered Users 2 Posts: 4,319 ✭✭✭Half-cocked


    I suppose the fact that I always have plenty of bumble bees around means there are plenty of nest sites available already. I just need to keep sowing native flowers for them.


  • #5
    diomed
    Closed Accounts Posts: 4,744 ✭✭✭diomed


    I have a few boxes like that. Nothing.
    A few days ago I was sitting on a patio step having a mug of tea in the sun when a big bumble bee (sorry I know nothing) about the size of a beer bottle cap disappeared into the "grass". I'm sure she has a burrow there.
    I should say that my garden was planted years ago with wildflower seed and it just looks like a mess of weeds.


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