How To Build The Most Successful Insect / Bee / Bug Hotels

The top 8 things to do to make the most of your solitary bee habitats.....

[Calastein]

Lol just noticed that I said "welcome to Wild About Gardens" instead of 'Wild About Nature' this is a common mistake that I make as I am also a WAG - Wild About Gardens assessor for the Kent Wildlife Trust....oops

[StigoftheSkipp]

Tree surgeons would be a great source of logs for bug hotels, they often have rounds that are far too knotty to splt which would suit your purposes, they also often have lots of branches they cant be bothered to process for firewood which im sure you could pick up very cheaply or for free.

[elliesnature]

This was really informative & helpful! :)

[redlily]

Greetings from Oregon, I built 3 pretty fancy small mason bee boxes maybe 20 years ago. After many years of use the woodpeckers discovered them, had a great lunch and did a lot of damage to the wood. I couldn't bear to throw them out so I hung them up in the back of my garage. Guess what? They are being used. I put many drilled blocks in my garage now to protect them from the woodpeckers. When they start to wake up in spring we just leave a door open and they come and go as they please. I still have to keep an eye on them as the woodpeckers will come into the garage to get them, little buggers... I have suet out for them year round, you would think they should be happy with that...

[patrickevans]

The leafcutter bee just sealing its larvae off is a "He"??

[ReineRossiter]

Enjoying your videos. This is a amazing space you've created for the pollinators. Thank you for sharing how to create a stunning space for them, I am going to try making some of these for my garden.

[christopherx]

What a truly wonderful channel. I've subscribed. As a newby allotmenteer / bug hotelier. I like the idea of locating the hotels on an east-facing fence as that (at least where I live) will also offer the best protection from the prevailing westerly winds.

7m30: "I'll have to look up the make and model of that bee." - guffaw!

[rezaamini]

Fantastic insect hotels; awesome job uve been doing mate. I'm new to gardening and just started to try turning my garden to be a wild life garden. That's how I found ur page. Watching ur vids has inspired me to build my insect hotel and hopefully hotels. Can i ask where do i go to get recycled wood; from local tip? ; also how do u join several hotels together? Do u glue them together? How do u fix them to ur fence?
Sorry if all these questions seem to be simple but I'm totally new to gardening and DIY and such. I'm watching and researching many pages as I want to turn my garden to wildlife haven.
Been watching all ur vids from start. Nice job

[wildlifegardener-tracey]

Found this and it's answered my question and more. :)

[pennyplant]

Thanks very interesting and informative.

[raymondkilminster]

you may have a point about dense wood . i drilled into a couple of bits of my brothers old oak bed which he cut up . i notice the leaf cutter bees really liked it and filled seven of the holes. though they did also use a few dried stems and one drill in new pine wood .

[tracylf]

Is east-facing still east in the southern hemisphere? I'm in Western Australia. Which is best for us?

[nna]

Great video! Is there a way I can avoid wasps using the hotels? In my area here in Germany we have a serious problem with wasps...

[mickgiles]

Hi, nobody is mentioning the holes sizes? Mick

[jackyfellows]

Hi...fab channel, I've been really inspiredl...I've done the bee watering station and posted it on my Facebook with a link to your youtube channel...I have a brick built pond that was populated by common newts so I left it as a wildlife pond and left out the fish. Just a question about what size of holes you use in your solitary bee habitat and which are the most popular?

[ArtAndAnthroposophy]

Hi from NZ ( new subscriber) I made a hotel using the rolled up bark fallen off eucalyptus trees, do you think that will work? Also I've noticed some wild fennel has thick hollow stems that i'm wondering if that would work, its got softer stuff on the inside like insulation perhaps. I havn't got a drill, so am foraging for stuff to use. Also, for clarity is it correct they need morning light to warm up, then afternoon shade to not over heat? Also do leaf cutters have a plant preference? Thanks

[liannesim]

I notice you do not use any protection against birds....I have several bee hotels which were used almost completely and then the birds came and opened almost all of them. Not fully, just the beginning but still. I am making new hotels now and consider adding some protection against birds. Is that something you advise ?

[Debbiesbackyard]

What is the chemical you use to treat your nest boxes?