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Not sure if they're crazy but they're definitely cool.
I want one; well I've got a few in the garden, just not on that scale.
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how deep do you drill the holes?
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Senior Member
Bits of garden cane 10cm long work perfectly well ... I assume holes of the same depth would also work.
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Agree with fatshark. I have a little WBC shaped hotel with 12 "rooms" each about 6 inches deep and mostly occupied by spiders rather than bees at the moment. The other is similarly empty, we get loads of bees of all types and while we think we get bumbles under the decking now and again I've not managed to coax permanent residents in any of the bee hotels; maybe it's the spiders?
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Administrator
I put up one of the commercial bird-house type short cane sections bee hotels this spring. On a sunny wall at about 5 feet up. Worked a treat and the little guys featuring in this thread took to it rapidly:
http://www.sbai.org.uk/sbai_forum/sh...Red-mason-bees
One of the advantages of climate change - we are starting to get some of the wee beasties previously restricted to the southern part of these isles.
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Senior Member
I stuffed as many large bore garden canes ~4" long into a 5" long piece of plastic drainpipe as i could. I then zip-tied them above head height to drainpipes or trellis in full sun. The intention was to distract the mason bees from using air bricks and small plastic ventilation slots in the wall. It didn't work. They still use the air bricks and ventilation slots, but also fill the nests I provided. No distraction, just a population explosion. It's a fantastic sight for a few weeks in April/May. There are two or three species that use the canes, but I've only identified red mason bees so far.
It's noticeable that they really prefer to use nest sites in full sun. The air bricks and ventilation thingies around the other side of the house are ignored. The drainpipe sections I use are black and they get hot to the touch. They last a lot better than the wooden "nests" sold in garden centres - we had two of these that needed major reconstructive surgery after just a couple of years in the elements (though that was just outside Glasgow rather than balmier southern climes).
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Administrator
Glasgow? You lived in Glasgow?!
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Senior Member
Can't you tell from my accent? '99-'06. I'd feel a complete fraud here if I didn't have at least some links with Scotland
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Administrator
Oh, you were most welcome here before I realised. All welcome. You might have told me that once but I do manage to forget quite a lot of stuff. In any case, everyone has a Scottish great-granny somewhere in their background. I have a g-g-granny from Dorchester which made me quite proud of my diverse and exotic background.
'99-'06? Good part of your childhood then? (That was a compliment by the way)
I'll bet that there were fewer solitary bee species near Glasgow then compared to now (see how I got back on topic?). Scottish bee armegeddon in reverse - we're picking up species. Not that there aren't conservation worries for some species, of course.
Did your Glasgow bee hotels work?
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