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Sunday, March 17, 2013

Insect Hotel Construction Complete

Doing the final construction of the insect hotel was definitely the fun part.  Assembling all the parts, building boxes, drilling holes - all very tedious and time consuming.  Especially since I had a deadline to meet!  Bumble bee queens emerge in February and I ordered some Mason Bees by mail.


The first pieces to go in were the shelving units.  Once they were secure, it was just a matter of placing everything.  The big rounds were the first to go in.

Ed helped by building the gable.  He also did all the cedar shake siding and roofing.

The pots of coconut fiber were tucked in.

Hopefully something will find these irresistible.

While I was putting it together I was buzzed several times.  The mason bees went right to the bamboo pieces and started building their nests.  A couple of lady bugs inspected holes too.

Now that it is up I visit it nearly every day.  I have almost a dozen mud-plugged holes now.  Today I noticed that the wasps were in the yard - hopefully they'll find a home in here too.

I am having so much fun with this!  My heart just leaps every time I discover a new nest.  As the new bees hatch I hope they stick around and start a family of their own.  I plan on cleaning the bamboo pieces and the nest boxes I purchased (only one hole taken so far) to keep mites from killing my bees.  No one has moved into the bumblebee nest yet, but a hornet was buzzing around today.  Hopefully she/he will move on down the road - don't really want a hornets nest.  But, like all superintendents, sometimes you don't get to pick your tenants!




7 comments:

  1. Replies
    1. Thank you! I must admit that I often find myself just staring at it - especially now that I have bees moving in. More fun than an ant farm!

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  2. Your hotel looks great! What a fun project and a huge benefit to your garden.

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    1. Thank you Laura. I really hope this ramps up the activity of the beneficials in the garden. I'm a vegetable gardener and need those flowers pollinated and cabbage looper caterpillars eaten!

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  3. Wow, Sheryl, it is fabulous. Lizards, snakes, bees come on in. I have had a project like this on the burner for a long time. Slow in coming.

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    1. Having to take my trees down was the catalyst for me. Had to have something positive come out of it! This project took a long time but has been very rewarding.

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  4. Wow...that is a marvelous pollinator house! I am going to make a second one and place it much closer to the sunny beds. gail clay and limestone

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