[bwood]

One of the biggest contributors to pollinator decline is loss of habitat for native bees. Most bees are actually solitary (don’t live in hives) and live in little crannies or holes in the ground.

One of the coolest things I’ve come across recently is the idea of “bee homes” that you can put in your garden to provide habitat for bees. I’ve bought a couple beautiful wooden units from Scopa and we just got our first bee resident this week!

https://scopabio.com/

[throwup238]

If you've got a lot of carpenter bees in your area, those bee homes are actually a good idea, otherwise they'll burrow into the wood of the house: https://imgur.com/a/cxQFNWG

[Brideau]

Hey there, I actually make these homes! Unfortunately, carpenter bees don't have any interest in the model we have now as they like to make their own holes in softwoods. I'll be working with a professor that specializes in larger carpenter bees (Xylocopa) over the winter to build some habitats that are suitable for them, though, and plan to test them at her research site in the spring.

[thinkingemote]

Note that each year you are supposed to clean out the homes.

[Brideau]

We design our blocks so that they are easy to clean. They are pre-split, but held together with UV resistant bands so that they are tightly sealed.

The need to clean them mostly comes from the agricultural sector though, and isn't required for small habitats with only a handful of nesting sites. My partner is a wild bee researcher, and they've been using these in the field for about 60 years. As long as the density is low, the requirement for cleaning them is optional.

[cryptonector]

I know them as bee hotels. I want to build some by next Spring.

[Brideau]

In case you're interested, I just put up a blog post on our page with some recommendations around this: https://scopabio.com/blogs/bee-home-guides/protect-bee-hotel...