Build a wildbee hotel

CHALLENGE

Build a wildbee hotel

Print Challenge

Abstract

Bees are fantastic little insects with a big task; they pollinate many of our vegetables, fruit trees and berries. About a third of the food we eat comes from plants that bees and bumblebees pollinate. But food shortages, chemical pesticides and housing shortages threaten our most important food producers. This can have major consequences for the future. Fortunately, there are solutions to the problems! We can help spread knowledge about bees and inspire what we can do together to help them.

Help the wild bees and they will help you

 

Bees are sensitive insects and unfortunately, not all bees in, for instance Sweden, are doing well. There are 270 species of wild bees in Sweden and about one third of them are threatened or greatly reduced.
Thirteen of the threatened species have not been found in a long time and are believed to be extinct. In order for the bees to feel good, they need more and more flowering plants, are exposed to less chemical pesticides and enough habitats.

Check out the situation in your country!

Learning Outcomes

The learners will learn how to use daily materials in order to build a bee hotel. They will also learn why we have to help bees.

  • Explain why bees are so important to us
  • List what else we can do to help the bees
  • Measure the material
  • Design the bee hotel
  • Build the bee hotel
  • Choose the best place for it
  • Discuss the outcome
  • Summarize the activity and learning outcome

Author

WiTECSweden
WiTECSweden

Language

English

Difficulty

Basic

Main Topics

Arts, Mathematics, Science

Duration

2 – 4 hours

Keywords

bees biodiversity biology Ecology Mathematics physics sustainability

Preparation of the Activity

Consider the following steps for the development of the activity.

Construction of a bee hotel

The activity shall be implemented in 5 stages:

  • Read through the whole handout
  • Planning and design the bee hotel.
  • Collect the material
  • Make the bee hotel.
  • Place the bee hotel correctly.

It is recommendable to carry out the activity in pairs. A close monitoring of the activity is recommendable.

Preparation of activity

The preparation of the activity shall be quite simple and focuses on the concrete advantages of the bee hotel:

  1. Explain the advantages and theoretical learning objectives of the activity.
  2. Point out why bees are so important.
  3. Explain why the bee hotel can be useful for the bees
  4. List plants that are important food for the bees
  5. Distribute the handouts and allow to read and understand
  6. Select the material
  7. Answer any doubts that can be raised by the learners and motivate them to share their ideas.

 

 

 

Implementation

Learners will start to design a scheme of the bee hotel

  1. Highlights the mathematical and technical processes that are being carried.
  2. Follow the practical instructions available on the handout for participants.
  3. Tell them to be creative. The initial plan can be adapted to the difficulties that can appear when making the bee hotel.
  4. Motivate the learners to search for creative solutions in order to face any unexpected difficulties.
  5. Ask them after finishing the bee hotel to read through part 2-5 on the last part in the handout.

Assessment/Evaluation

  1. Discuss and ask them simple questions that allow you to know their level of satisfaction with the project and the activity. Examples: “What do you think about the bee hotel?”, “What was harder for you to do?”, “Would you like to repeat such an activity?”
  2. Compare and analyse their initial plan with the final result.
  3. Discuss other designs for bee hotel.
  4. Discuss all activities 1-5 and discuss whether they are applicable in each person’s life.
  5. Discuss other creative suggestions for improving for bees.
  6. Analyze if they have understood the importance of bees
  7. Make them list what else they can do to assist the bees.

Follow Up

  • Connect them to other STEAM people activities
  • Inspire them to go into further investigations of what else they can do to improve the environment
  • Ask them if they want to build a bee hotel at home so they can follow the activities in their garden.

Description and Required Material

Build a wild bee hotel and why you should do it.

Bees are fantastic little insects with a big task; they pollinate many of our vegetables, fruit trees and berries. About a third of the food we eat comes from plants that bees and bumblebees pollinate. But food shortages, chemical pesticides and housing shortages threaten our most important food producers. This can have major consequences for the future. Fortunately, there are solutions to the problems! We can help spread knowledge about bees and inspire what we can do together to help them.

Bees are sensitive insects and unfortunately, not all bees in, for instance Sweden, are doing well. There are 270 species of wild bees in Sweden and about one third of them are threatened or greatly reduced.
Thirteen of the threatened species have not been found in a long time and are believed to be extinct. In order for the bees to feel good, they need more and more flowering plants, are exposed to less chemical pesticides and enough habitats. Check out the situation in your country!

This is a picture of a bigger hotel than in the activity. You can be creative!

The bee hotel

This activity is also an empowerment. We can do something to help the bees.

Required Material

  • An untreated wooden plank, at least 10 cm wide.
  • Plenty of hollow stems of different diameters (including the bees’ preferred 3-5 mm), such as bramble, reed or bamboo. To attract a range of species include 2-10mm diameter holes.
  • Saw, drill, screws and secateurs.
  • A mirror fixing to hang the finished nest up.
  • Measuring instrument of any kind.
  • One nail, 6 cm long.
  • Lace, 1 m per hotel.

 

Your Task

Get ready for the activity!

Making a plan and selecting the materials

The first steps..

Read through the whole activity first

The bees need to find places in nature where they can build their nests. Some bees build their nests in the ground. To them, you can make a sandy surface with sand in different grain sizes in undisturbed south.

STUBS In a stump or in pieces of wood you can drill holes so that the bees can move in. The holes should be about 3–13 mm in diameter and at least 50 mm deep, but never go straight through, as the bees only want one input.

BAMBU You can also help the bees by building a bee hotel of reed, bamboo or other pipe-like material where wild bees can move in.

Consider..

Prepare yourself for the process.

Do it..

It is not difficult, but caution is recommendable.

Steps for the construction

Building your bee hotel:

  1. Cut the plank into four to make a rectangular frame that the stems will sit inside.
  2. Drill guide holes for the screws (to stop the wood splitting) and assemble the frame.
  3. Snip your stems into lengths to fit the frame (as wide as the plank), discarding any bent or knobbly ones.
  4. It’s a good idea to include some really big stems (cut with a fine saw), even though they’re no use to the bees; they speed up the assembly stage, look attractive and help shelter lacewings and ladybirds over winter.
  5. Lay your frame on a tilted surface and carefully pack it with stems. Only as you add the final few does the whole thing suddenly lock solid.
  6. Use the nail to dig out a hole at each end of the tubes, allowing the bees to lay their eggs inside.
  7. Tie the string so that the bundle holds together. Tie hard enough so that the pipes do not fall out.
  8. Finally add a backing board to the bee hotel.

Note that:

Now that you have the bee hotel, decide how you can use it. There are several options just be using your creativity

The result..

How to place the wild bee hotel

  1. Sunny – south facing position.
  2. Protected – preferably rain protected.
  3. Visible – so you can see it.
  4. Near flowers – preferably within 50 meters radius.

What to do with it?

What happens next?

Watch as solitary bees investigate your finished bee hotel in the spring. With any luck, the females will lay their eggs inside the stems of your hotel. Each egg is left with a store of pollen for the grub to eat when it hatches. The egg is sealed up behind a plug of mud, in a ‘cell’, and one stem may end up with several ‘cells’ in it. The bees will emerge the following year.

What else can you do to help the wild bees: Activities 2-5

  1. Do not clean the entire garden
    Leave parts of your garden undisturbed and debris to create a protected environment for bees. Leave edge zones against the fence and hedge where flowering plants and berries can thrive. Buying organic food and choosing pesticides are also important efforts.
  2. Plant plants that attract bees
    All bees need nectar and pollen. Some bees like many different plant species, while others are more spicy. Help the bees by planting plants that they like. Choose local varieties and be sure to choose either those that bloom long or different plants that bloom at different times, so there is always something for the bees. Here are some examples:
    ► large bluebell
    ► red clover
    ► mint
    ► dandelion
    ► flowering herbs like thyme
    ► salvia
    ► rhododendron

Check out what plants attract bees in your country

https://thehoneybeeconservancy.org/plant-a-bee-garden/

  1. Create a wilder lawn
    If you have a lawn, it is easy to make it more friendly by mowing parts of it more rarely. Dandelions and daisies are sweets for bees. If you have nutrient-poor soil, you can turn part of the lawn into a meadow, as meadows contain lots of flowers with nectar and pollen. To make it a meadow, mow or mow the grass after flowering, remove it and avoid fertilizing.
  2. Do not use pesticides
    If you want to experience bees in your garden, insect pests are excluded.

Did you know that…
► Bees feed on nectar while collected pollen is fed to larvae.
► The length of the tongue determines which plants the bees visit.
► Some bees are resident parasites and take over the nests of others.
► Some bees collect pollen on the stomach instead of on the hind legs.
► The Bumblebee Queen is wintering.

The bumblebees then? Bumblebees are also bees and to help bumblebees you can dig down an upside down clay pot with material in. Good material is dry moss and fluffy dry grass, preferably together with an old bird’s nest, if you can find it, or cutter shavings from a mouse cage in a zoo shop, because the bumblebees are looking for old rodent nest to build their bumblebees in.

You do not have to be afraid of bees:
Bees are insects and belong to the group of spotted beetles, just like ants and wasps. It is only the females who have a stick and stung only if they end up in a difficult situation, for example if you push them.

Source: https://skane.naturskyddsforeningen.se/bi/

The Swedish Society of Nature Conservation

Source: https://www.wildlifetrusts.org/actions