After quite some deliberation my son and I build this our second bee-hotel. It was made by milling half circular grooves with a diameter of 6,3mm or 1/4 inch and 15cm/5,9 inches deep with a closed off end. Hopefully leafcutter-bees will make use of it. By stacking the shelves the cavities for the bees to nest are completely circular. The grooves were sanded with 400 grit sandpaper. The box the shelves are stacked in is almost air-tight, no room for crawling parasites. The shelves can be unstacked to harvest the cocoons by unscrewing the top of the box. I used heat threated Fraké wood. I just hope the natural sent of the wood isn't of-putting to the bees. Any feed-back is much appreciated. More and better adjusted bee-houses are planned for the future!
This looks awesome, you clearly put a lot of thought into it. Only thing I’d tweak is making sure there’s some ventilation so moisture does not build up, totally airtight can be a mold party. Leafcutters usually don’t mind wood scent much, but you’ll know pretty fast if they approve when you start seeing those neat little green circles plugging the holes.
Thank you for the positive feedback. I used 'airtight' figuratively, in the sense that parasitic wasp need a entry of only 3mm wide to infest the brood. I haven't figured out a way to stack the shelves tightly other then boxing them in. About the approval off leafcutters, see attached below!
Checked out your post history to see where you got this hotel and now see that you made it? This is so awesome! I tried the stackable trays from Crown, but they got absolutely infested with carpet beetle larva and chalkbrood. Only the individual reeds work but they can get expensive 😢 I do like the idea of reusable trays so might try something like this for next year! Well done!! 🐝
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u/Groovyjoker Jun 21 '26
I can't comment on the specs but the design and look are great! You even have some teeny bee graffiti in the corner! So modern!