My Bumblebee Nest Box Trial

My Bumblebee Nest Box Trial

May 22 2009

It was supposed to be easy. Build a wooden box, put it up in the garden, and the bumble bees will move in to pollinate your plants on a daily basis. Well they haven’t arrived yet. I’m still crossing my fingers though. Or maybe I came too close with lawnmower.
I made the mistake of using raw untreated wood with no protection from the rain, so the nest box has been deformed in the bottom, which is not good.
If you enjoyed this post, make sure you subscribe to my RSS feed!

Related posts:
2 Responses to “My Bumblebee Nest Box Trial”
1. Ugly Ike said on July 2nd, 2010 at 4:34 am
  
  Are there any updates (after May 22, 2009) on your trial bumble bee nest. I am curious if it was eventually inhabited and what chances you would make next time to the nest constsruction – (other than weatherproofing the wood to prevent warping, as you mentioned).
  
  Ugly Ike
2. Thomas W. said on July 2nd, 2010 at 1:12 pm
  
  @Ugly Ike: Unfortunately no bumble bees came to stay, and eventually I scrapped the box. But I still think the design is good, although thinner wood would be sufficient, like 1 cm (0.4 cm) or something like that.
  The story took a twist this year – check it out at http://happyfarming.com/2010/06/29/finding-nests-of-bumblebees/ if you haven’t already. I didn’t do anything to attract them, but they came anyway
  Check out another design here: http://www.renewablesathome.com/ecology/how-to-build-a-bumblebee-nest
Leave a Reply

Name (required)

Mail (will not be published) (required)

Website

Notify me of followup comments via e-mail. You can also subscribe without commenting.