|
Post by fruitnut on Mar 21, 2012 8:10:04 GMT -5
I put together some bee houses using a) cut bamboo tied together and also b) holes drilled in untreated wood/logs. I'll be putting them out near my fruit trees this spring.
Has anyone out there tried this already & i yes, how did it work? any tips, tricks i could use?
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Mar 21, 2012 10:52:02 GMT -5
Here are some of my bee nests... They are made out of drilled wood, cut rose stems, and sandy soil. The cactus bed is 6" of 70:30 sand:compost on top of 6" of lava chips. Hole size in the drilled boards ranges from 1/8" to 1/2". What moves into them depends on location and the local micro-ecosystem. My typical strategy is to make a general-diversity board, notice what immediately moves in, measure the size of the holes, and then build another board close by with lots of that size of hole in it. A very popular size in this area is 15/64". The first move in is often into a 1/8" hole. I sure can't ID everything that moves in, or even see them, but there are mason bees, and leaf-cutter bees, and paper-making wasps, and wasps that stuff the hole with coarse fiber, and ground nesting bees/wasps. Sometimes a hole size will be vacant for years, and then every hole that size is occupied by a new arrival. Now if I was brave enough or clever enough to attempt bumble bees.
|
|
|
Post by synergy on Mar 23, 2012 23:08:21 GMT -5
I did one of the bamboo bundles last year before spring and ... nothing . So it is still hanging under a protected eave of the tool shed in the garden . I guess I can be hopeful for this year : )
|
|
|
Post by MikeH on Mar 26, 2012 5:18:05 GMT -5
I use a mix of man-made - www.masonbeehomes.com/pro-bee-block-0 and snohomish.wsu.edu/mg/ombblock/paper%20liners%20that%20work.pdf and Nature. With the Pro bee block, it is very easy to see if you have attracted any wildlife. I get mason bees, leaf cutters, and sometimes wasps and earwigs. I don't really care. The blocks are really easy to clean. I also use the Randy Person parchment lined approach. It's fairly easy to clean and it works though not as well as the Pro bee block. Depending on how Spring workload unfurls, I spend a morning raking some of last year's goldenrod debris. Most of it goes to a compost pile but a certain amount gets put into 2 to 4 inch bundles which I stick wherever I can out of the way. I have no idea whether this last one works or not since I tend to forget where I put them and can't find them in the fall. LOL Regardless, they're a lot harder to inspect. I came across someone who is using phragmites reeds. A truly endless supply at the right price.
|
|
|
Post by fruitnut on Mar 27, 2012 7:16:20 GMT -5
Thanks for the feedback, its encouraging to hear some folks have had success.
That pro bee block looks interesting, and its Canadian too! I know i have lots of mason bees flying around as soon as the farm hedgerow of wild plums blooms. So the plan is to collect some from there and move them to my new orchard at the other side of the property next spring. Hope it works.
It was so warm here last week (mid 20's ...that'd be 77F for at least a week) our tree buds started to open. That's easily 3 weeks early. Its back to regular temps this week though so i still have some time to figure out where to place these bee houses.
|
|
|
Post by MikeH on Mar 27, 2012 12:11:57 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by MikeH on Apr 6, 2012 11:58:00 GMT -5
Now if I was brave enough or clever enough to attempt bumble bees. Can't help with the brave bit and I'm not sure if this is clever or not but it's a start.
|
|
|
Post by bunkie on Feb 26, 2013 9:03:40 GMT -5
bump...we're expreimenting with the mason bees this year.
|
|
|
Post by richardw on Feb 26, 2013 12:47:53 GMT -5
|
|
|
Post by keen101 (Biolumo / Andrew B.) on Feb 26, 2013 14:20:47 GMT -5
We have an abundance of wild bees here where i live. So many that i don't really care about honey bees all that much. Most of them are ground-nesting bees. The tiny bees that pollinate out apple trees are a ground-nesting type. They also seem to like mint flowers. I have seen at least 20 different types of native bees, and i would guess that nearly all of them are ground-nesting types. My favorite of these looks similar to the black orchard mason bees, but i don't think it is. I have identified it as Melissodes bimaculatus. www.discoverlife.org/20/q?search=Melissodes+bimaculataThey really like my multicolored Indian corn pollen. And the year i planted my mass cross of watermelons i planted some of my corn nearby and as a result they also flocked to my watermelon flowers. Last year i also planted the watermelon again, but not the corn. They didn't show up to pollinate the watermelon flowers that year i guess because the corn didn't first attract them to the area.
|
|
Deleted
Deleted Member
Posts: 0
|
Post by Deleted on Feb 27, 2013 0:24:27 GMT -5
They are sensitive to rumbling percussion and CO2, so that typical farm machinery makes them visibly alarmed, and they sort of work until they die. I believe that an often-agitated hive can be abandoned, with lots of dead bees around it.
I saw an urban permaculturist put his hives on a gable. I bring this up, because I am mildly allergic. One farmer had chainlink fence panels, so put these up as protection from the hive -- only about 2ft away from it. I bent over to pick some berries, the panels rattled, and there were bees in my mouth, nose, and ears.
We all have plants, growing around us, which are particularly attractive to bees. Any property with these plants will have just as many bees as someone who is keeping a hive, imho.
I thought that raw honey would be a fringe benefit of hosting a hive, though. The beekeeper said that, if you are allergic to the pollen of local plants, you can eat their honey to gain a resistance. Allergens are known to be in that honey. I hadn't thought of bee parts in that honey, though, so had a mild reaction on trying the honey -- after several times.
|
|
|
Post by Joseph Lofthouse on Apr 1, 2013 22:50:13 GMT -5
Today I saw the nests of a new species in my bee boards. The hole had been sealed with pitch. I haven't seen that sort of closure before.
|
|
|
Post by steev on Apr 1, 2013 23:25:37 GMT -5
In Winter, I've seen honeybees gathering sap from fresh-cut pine rounds; I think they use it in propolis.
|
|