How to Make a Bee Hotel
If you're looking for a fun garden project and want to help out your local pollinators, try making one of these adorable bee hotels. Using some everyday items from around your home, you can construct the perfect place for local bees to come and have a time out.
First things first
The main part of your bee hotel will be the bee tubes. Bee tubes should ideally be between 10 to 15cm in length, and the diameter of the entrance hole should be anything between 6 to 10mm. I find that using a pencil is ideal as a mould. We will look at two methods for creating the bee tubes, using either newspaper or old paper bags.
You will need:
- - 1 standard pencil
- - 1 newspaper, or a few old paper shopping bags
- - Sellotape
- - Weatherproof recyclable containers, such as an orange juice carton or old plastic bottle
- - (optional) An old birdhouse or scraps of wood
Newspaper Method:
- 1. Cut each newspaper page in half, then cut each half into three evenly sized strips.
- 2. Soak your newspaper strips in water.
- 3. Wrap the wet paper loosely around the pencil.
- 4. Remove the pencil and leave it to dry.
- 5. Repeat until you have plenty.
Paper Bag Method: Many retailers now provide paper bags for your purchases, I am sure you can think of some well known brands who do this. These bags are made of a very strong and flexible paper that also works well for bee tubes, without the need to soak and dry.
- 1. Cut the bag into strips of desired length.
- 2. Roll around the pencil (around 6 times).
- 3. Secure with a Sellotape.
The finishing touch
Now is the time to personalise your bee hotel. If you have any scrap wood, or ideally an old birdhouse roof, you can use these to create a sturdy structure for mounting your beehouse. But if you don't have these, don't worry. The aim is to have your bee hotel between 1 and 4 metres above the ground, under a shelter. This could be anywhere you like, but a great place would be under the side of a shed roof and facing south. If you do create a wooden structure around your bee hotel, why not paint it in some vibrant colours to get the bees' attention.
Hap-bee days.
