How to Make Home-made Nesting Spots for Bees

Bees may seem annoying, but they are actually good for your garden. Bees collect pollen from flowers to feed their young. While they gather food, they are also helping your plants. The pollen from one plant sticks to the feathery body hairs of the bee. It falls off the bee onto another flower of the same kind and pollinates the plant.
This pollination is what allows plants and flowers to grow seeds, fruits and vegetables.

Just don't try to handle them you probably will get stung. Honey bees are known for their colonies. They work together to keep the colony going and to make honey. But most bees are solitary. Types of solitary bees include carpenter bees, leaf-cutter bees, alkali bees, digger bees and sweat bees. Many solitary bees will move into a crack or crevice in a wall. They also will find a hole in wood or a tree, or a nest in the ground. You can make a nesting spot for them. Here are some ways to build bees nesting spots.

Get a handful of drinking straws. Tie them together and plug one end of the bunch with clay. Hang it under the windowsill or on a tree limb. Get a block of untreated soft wood. Drill allot of holes in it. Then hang it up on a tree limb. Tie together a bunch of old, dry, hollow stems of plants like bramble. You can also use some bamboo canes. Tie them in a bundle and fasten them to a tree.

Get a large coffee can. Cut out some circular pieces. They will fit the top and bottom of the can. You will cut out a 3/4 hole through the snap-on lid for a door. This will be the nest when it is mounted. Drill several 1/8 inch holes in the back and side. That will be the bottom of the nest for drainage and extra ventilation. Next, you will need to fill the can with 1/3 to 1/2 full of fibrous material. Upholsterer's cotton is used the most often. But you can also use animal hair, wool, fiberglass insulation or similar material.

Get a flower pot, turn it upside down and sink it into the ground. Put a tile over the drainage holes to keep out the rain. Run a hose or pipe underground to the pot, leaving a prominent entrance. Be sure to make drainage holes in the pipe. Make a chicken-wire cradle for ventilation, and fill it with a generous hand of nesting material.You can also make a home for them by simply digging a cavity in the ground. Cover it with a paving slab or a piece of thick plywood. Dig a few small channels at the side to provide entrance holes and ventilation. Try to make the entrance holes obvious so the the queen finds them. Put a handful of nesting material in the cavity, ideally in a chicken-wire cradle.