What you will need:
- An electric drill
- Drill bits ranging from 3 mm – 12 mm
- Wood
- Pen/Paint
Step 1: Find a piece of wood, with a diameter of about 20 cm (but anything is fine). The drier the better.
Step 2: Cut the wood down in to a length of about 20-25 cm
Step 3: Using a drill and drill bits ranging in size from 3 mm – 12 mm drill a variety of holes. The holes should be 10-15 cm deep and be at least 2 cm apart.
Different types of bee prefer different size holes.
Step 4: Paint, write or even burn the hashtag #BuzzOffNeonics into the log. You can even write bee refuge on it or draw some bees! Get creative.
Tips: Some pens will bleed on the wood, it helps to sand the wood first. It can be best to acrylic paint or marker. You can test different methods on some scrap wood first!
Step 5: Place the bee hotel in the garden. Make sure that it sits about 1m of the ground – you can hang it off a tree, place it on a window sill, or mount it on a thick stick and stick it in the ground.
It is best to have the face of the bee house facing South East – as the bees like the morning sun and shade in the afternoon. And make sure there is no foliage in the way of the holes.
We placed this on next to an almost blossoming crab apple tree that will soon be covered in bees and other pollinators!
Learn more about #BuzzOffNeonics here.