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Lets save the Bees. Things YOU can do! Answered

Bee habitat is not just flowers, it is also brood space and shelter. Most bees are not honey bees or bumble bees, they are little solitary bees  and they do a lot of polination. We need to provide them with lots of brood space and overnight shelter too!  And modern garden practice is simply not doing it.
First of all, I am not a bee racist. I am trying to help all the bee species.  I find that there is a succession of different bee species through the year. And they use different size holes .   In fact they don't just lay eggs in these holes, they shelter in them too. I did not know this..  This year I also discovered that they burrow into the pith in old raspberry stems and in grape vines!
So if you compost your old raspberry canes,  you are probably composting bee babies  too.
Dave from Camas, Washington has been bundling teasel stems for several years for orchard mason bees.   You could do the same with raspberry canes!?
I found this a week ago after I had started my project.  I make holes in cop blocks for the bees.
I have also started layering plant stems
At least 4 bee species are using the first cob bee blocks for brood or shelter. 
I have some pictures at the link below.  Hopefully you can see the captions too.


I am too Lazy to post an instructable right now and I am still learning the cob bee house thing.


I like bees, but they've plenty enough habitat around me already.
Where you talk about I would agree.


I know... But apparently there's a big deficiency or knowledge about pollinating-insects. People see a disaster but how much any insect contributes is not that well-understood.


I congratulate you for being interested in protecting the bees. I think many of your suggestions apply mainly to the area where you live. Here in Argentina, I am sure that if I build in the back of my house a refuge as you do, it would be invaded by wasps, bumblebees, ants and other undesirable insects before the bees can use it.

Well sit corrected, you'll be more comfortable, honestly, I didn't know tht it had ever been necessary to do that..

BTW my absolute favorite bee plant?

African Blue Basil.  They swarm it.

Here goes on an image. This is the latest cob bee habitat. It has seen little activity so far. The previous one took a couple of weeks before the bees used it and now at least 4 types are nesting in it and sheltering in it. The stems are hollow and the metal rods leave holes that bees use too.


Lemonie, 3 species of bumble bee are extinct in the UK already with more to follow very soon unless people act. Perhaps nobody is looking too hard at the solitary bees (which hardly ever sting people) but they are under the same extreme pressure, even in England. caitlinsdad I have heard of carpenter bees and we do not have them in my part of the world. BUT if you MAKE habitat for the other competing bees (who cannot drill into the wood and therefore cannot make their own habitat) that means more competing bees, right? And if there are more of the non wood boring bees, it means less food for the boring bees and therefore less of them. I did not expect the negative comments right away but I guess that is the way of the world now.

I do not have a negative outlook on bees. I do enjoy them when I see them buzzing about the flowering vegetable plants in my mother's garden. I guess in New York City, we have not seen the migration of the African killer bees yet. I have not thought about building a hive lest I have to manage it when there are too many bees.

https://www.facebook.com/album.php?aid=246092&id=736625766&l=26546198d6 The bee shelters are for solitary bees. Which generally do not sting people at all. People hardly notice them but they are responsible for much of the pollination.
The other link (with bunches of teasel)  was 
It is something where if people start their bee shelters now, they can get feedback before the end of the season.

My neighbor has his garage infested with "carpenter" bees. They are a species that bore holes like termites. The wood trim looks like there are a bunch of perfectly drilled holes in them. I have probably seen green bees before mistaking them for wasps or hornets..