Native Bees Houses

Native bee houses wintering over in my storage shed. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Native Bees Houses

One of my favorite Christmas gifts is to give the gift of native bees. Native bees are not only excellent pollinators but if you don’t use chemicals where you live, chances are you can easily attract native bees by putting up native bee houses.

To give native bees give the gift of a native bee house. Native bee houses are available at most home and garden centers. Some are as simple as a group of hollow bamboo sticks in a container to the more fancy bee houses with a variety of nesting spots. Either way, native bee homes will attract native pollinators and help improve the health of your garden.

This is my first native bee house which has been remodeled a number of times since I first got it. If you look closely, you can see where the native bees hatched out of the bamboo pieces while others are currently sealed with occupants. I have made a number of covers to keep the bamboo sticks dry. Most recently, I wrapped the bee house with wire.

My first native bee house still has tenants even after all these years. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Once I get the bee houses, I make a chicken wire mesh that goes over the front to protect the native bees from birds and other predators.

This is my most recent native bee house with a variety of accommodations for pollinators. See the clear sealed holes? That’s a sure sign of Cellophane Bees, also called Plasterer Bees and Polyester Bees. They are about the same size as a honey bee.

There are a number of other sealed holes, a sure sign of residents. The ones with mud are mason bees.

A variety of native bees are nesting in this bee house. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins0

I have 8 native bee houses in my Missouri limestone hillside garden that I bring into my storage shed in the fall to protect the bees through winter.

This was my last bee house to store. You can’t see it well in the photo, the top entrance has a paper wasp nest, one of the better fruit tree pollinators. Some of the bamboo tubes with smaller holes show they were used last season while sealed ones have native bees that hopefully will hatch this coming spring.

A well-used native bee house with native bee residents. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

These will get placed outside in early spring when temperatures are more than 55F.

If you are handy with a drill, you can also make your own bee houses; this one is for mason bees. You want the depth to be at least 6 inches long with 5/16” diameter holes in a non-treated wood block. This was made from three 2x4 untreated blocks.

This was a Christmas gift from one of my professional colleagues. (Photo by Charlotte Ekker Wiggins)

Regardless of what kind of native bee house you give, download this guide to Missouri native bees and include it with your gift so the recipient can identify what tenants they have: https://www.stlzoo.org/files/9413/3303/3161/MO_Bee_Guide_w_boarder.pdf

You can also add a little glass bee ornament so that you don’t have to wait until spring to have a bee.

I love putting out my bee houses and periodically checking the residency through the growing season. They are wonderful gifts that will truly keep on giving!

Charlotte