What Is An Insect Hotel?
Insect hotels are winter lodgings for your backyard crawling and flying bugs. Usually made of found or upcycled materials around your yard, these hotels consist of different suites catered to each little bug’s preferred lodging taste. Most hotels are constructed with a strong protective frame of wood boards or pallets and are filled with a variety of bug-friendly materials like straw, cork, sticks, or pinecones.
Why Build An Insect Hotel?
Insect hotels provide safe areas for solitary insects to hibernate over winter. Big lawns and the lack of dead wood in our yards leaves wild bees, spiders, and ladybugs without a place to live. Building accommodations for beneficial insects like ladybugs or flying pollinators can help benefit both your environment and your garden in the spring.
A wildlife stack can harbor numerous beneficial insects and amphibians. This habitat was made up entirely of recycled materials, the support is made up of old pallets. Image copyright: Cheshire Wildlife Trust,cheshirewildlifetrust.org.uk
有些生物喜欢潮湿的环境，有些则喜欢干燥的环境。冬天，瓢虫在干燥的树枝和树叶中冬眠，你可以在昆虫旅馆中提供这些东西。也许把它当做栖息地或公寓更好。你真正想要的是长期住院医生。萨拉·巴克摄于什鲁斯伯里花展。Flickr
Insect Hotels For Sale
- Niteangel® Wooden Insect House, $17.95
- Mason Bee House, $16.89
- Gardirect Butterfly House, $17.95,They have other optionsavailable here.
Insect Hotels For Bees
Solitary bees like sun. The ideal location for an insect hotel is in full sun and protected from the weather. This will ensure that the heat required for the brood is present, and wind or rain will not destroy their nest. Provide that, and the flowers, and they will come.www.sav-überlingen.de
Solitary beesare different from social bees (such as honey bees) in that every female is fertile and makes individual nest cells for her offspring. Some native bees are ground nesters but more than 30% are wood nesters. The female wood nester will look for pre-existing cavities such as hollow stems or holes in wood that are just the right size to use as a nest.
The female typically creates a series of compartments (cells) and within each cell she will lay an egg on top of its future food source. The female bee will make numerous trips to flowers collecting pollen and nectar that she will pack into each cell. On these trips, the female wild bee pollinates plants and food crops. It can take anywhere from 20 to 30 trips to fill each cell with food.
当她对食物的数量感到满意时，她会产卵，将细胞分隔开来，然后继续创造下一个细胞。当她觉得这个房间已经完成时，她会封住它的末端，然后继续填满一个新的房间。最后的细胞(靠近开口的细胞)含有将成为雄性的卵子，因为雄性在雌性之前孵化。
虽然每个物种不同，但雌泥瓦匠蜂的寿命约为一个月，每天可以建造一个细胞巢，产卵约两个。幼虫在一周或更长时间后从卵中孵化出来，并开始吃提供的花粉和花蜜。当食物被吃掉后，幼虫会在细胞内结茧并化蛹。
在夏末或初秋，蜜蜂会发生转变，但在整个冬天，成虫都会待在茧里。春天，雄企鹅开始通过啃食出洞。雌鸟几乎都在隧道的较深处，一两周后才出来。
虽然独居的雌性各自筑巢，但有些物种更喜欢在同类其他物种附近筑巢，让不经意的观察者看到它们是群居的。来自温哥华的Mike N.拍摄。
Bug hotel in Oakham, UK at the Lyndon Nature Reserve, built by Paul Stammers and Michelle Househam. Although often called a hotel, some bees will live in a nest for up to nine months as they develop from egg, through the larval stage, into adulthood. Photo by安妮•Crasey Flickr。
30 Amazing Insect Hotels Around The World
1) Insect Hotel In Germany
Insect hotel in Hamburg, Germany. Wild bee houses have been popular in Europe for many years. You can see more bee homes atinsektenhotel24.de.
2) Solitary Bee Hotel
Insect hotel at the Heimanshof, North Holland. Many solitary bees are very small and you may not have realised they are bees. More species of bees live alone, than in hives. Wild bees are considered to be as important to the food chain as bumblebees and honeybees. Honey bees are not native to the Americas (see below). Photo byBob Daamen, Flickr
Related Post:18 Creative DIY Beehive Plans for Your Own Beekeeping
3) Oxburgh Hall Bug Bank
昆虫之家或昆虫银行，在北诺福克的Oxburgh Hall的地面上。因为独居的蜜蜂没有蜂巢需要保护，所以它们不具有攻击性，也很少蜇人。Photo byMabvith, Flickr.
4) Bug Habitat Near Some Flowers
英国赫尔姆斯利的昆虫旅馆。Hotels should be relatively closeto floweringherbs,wild flowers andnative shrubs andtreesto cover thefood needs of theinsects.Photo byMunki Munki, Flickr.
5) Columnar Insect Condo
With this design, you can make the most of your space by increasing the surface area of a “smaller” sized hotel.
6) Bug Bank From Holland
Insect hotel in Hoofddorf, Holland. Drilled 4 x 4s, logs, twigs and sticks. There are many different species of solitary bee, all are excellent pollinators. Photo byBob Daamen,Flickr
7) St. Poelten Landesmuseum’s Insect Hotel
Insect hotel in St. Poelten Landesmuseum, Austria. That shutter will keep the birds out. Photo byKlasse im Garten, Flickr.
8) Bug Stack Mansion
Bug stack. Keep an eye on activity as some ants will eat bee larvae. More on attracting insects to your garden can be found in the conversation held atsww.infojardin.com.
9) Simple Insect Habitat
Finding the resources for a bug hotel can be fairly easy because you don’t need to buy a lot of materials.
10) Bug Hotel For The Garden
昆虫的酒店。Photo bySteve Leverett, FlickRiver.
11) Harrogate District Biodiversity Action Group’s Hotel
Bug Mansion. Ladybugs are always looking for places to hide and escape from the weather. By theHarrogate District Biodiversity Action Group. Flickr
12) Small Insect Stack
Wildlife stack by Dawn Isaacs. The plants on top of this insect hotel helps the structure blend into the garden. How-to:www.guardian.co.uk.
13) Bug Hotel In Scotland
Insect Condo in Scotland. Don’t be discouraged if insects don’t immediately come to your insect hotel, it may take several months before they nest. Photo bySheila, Flickr.
14) Bee Hotel From An Old Stump
Wild Bee Hotel in Austria. More information on this photograph can be foundhere on Flickr.
15) Wild Bee Condo
Bee Condo. Photo bySissi de Kroon, Flickr.
16) Austrian Bug Bank
奥地利一家私人花园中的昆虫旅馆。This picture was found onwww.klasse-im-garten.at,where you can discover even more ideas for your garden.
17) Hanging Insect Hotel
Insect Hotel, Ebersberger Forest, Bavaria. Photo byTerry Cooke, Flickr.
18) Relaxing Bug Habitat
Insect Hotel (Zen-like). Found onwww.wildbienen.de,you can go to their page to find out more on wild bee conservation.
19) Bamboo Insect Hotel
Place cut bamboo in metal pipes. Photo byBob Daamen. Flickr.
20) Protective Bug Bank
Wire screening keeps the small stuff in place and protects against birds. Photo byJoeke Pieters, Flickr.
21) Wild Bee Home
德国黑森林的野蜂屋。Photo byMichael Bohnert, Flickr.
22) Artistic Insect Home
这个bug库的设计兼顾了功能和外观。
23) Demonstrative Bug Stack
A fun learning project for kids.
24) Insect House From The Netherlands
Insect hotel in the Netherlands, close-up. Found onFlickr.
25) Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust’s Bug Bank
An ‘Insect hotel’ at the Durrell Wildlife Conservation Trust in Jersey ©RLLord,www.sustainableguernsey.info.
26) Bug Habitat
Insect Habitat assembled from foraged organic materials and reclaimed scrap, a habitat-in-waiting for bees and other native creatures. By Kevin Smith and Lisa Lee Benjamin. Originally found on floragrubb.com, you can find out more information atpithandvigor.com.
27) Red Insect Hotel
Insect Habitat at Garden Tulln, Austria. More information on this photograph can be found onFlickr。
28) Bug Stack In Germany
Insect Hotel in Germany. This is another picture from the informational sitewww.wildbienen.de.
29) Living Willow Wales’ Insect Habitat
《虫虫旅馆》作者:Lisa和Andrew Roberts (Living Willow Wales)，位于Ysgol pontrhydendigaid。You can find this picture and instructions onandrewroberts.net.
30) Funky Bug Hotel
Bug hotel created by kids at the RHS Flower Show, Tatton Park. More information about this photograph can be found onFlickr.
Synonyms For Insect Hotel
Bug condos, bug hotels, insect habitats, wildlife stacks, insect boxes, insect houses, insect walls, wild bee walls, insect accommodation, wild bee houses, solitary bee walls or wild bienenhaus.
Who Lives In An Insect Hotel?
Wasps: cuckoo wasps, parasitic wasps and many more species…
蜻蜓，甲虫，草蛉，瓢虫。moths, spiders, frogs, newts, hedgehogs, et al…www.wildbienenstand-neuhof.de
Bees: leafcutter bees, masked bees, mason bees, digger bees and hundreds more…
Bumblebees nest in hollow trees and in rodent burrows. They are among the first bees to emerge in the spring and the last to disappear in fall. They are superb pollinators of tomatoes, blueberries, cranberries, clover, and more. Bumblebees can “buzz pollinate” by hanging on a flower and vibrating with their flight muscles to release pollen.
Mason and Leafcutter Bees select existing hollow stems and bored holes in which to build their multiple nest chambers. They carry pollen underneath their bodies rather than on their legs like most bees, and the pollen falls off rather easily. Mason bees are first-class pollinators of many fruit crops, toiling long hours and in inclement weather. Squash and Gourd Bees help pollinate up to eighty percent of squash, pumpkins, and melons. They are ground nesters, so it is important to leave some open dirt for the these very important bees as well.
How To Build An Insect Hotel
- For a simple hotel, drill holes 1/4″ to 3/8″ in the ends of logs, or cut some bamboo sticks of equal length, and stuff in a wooden box.
- 层旧托盘。
- 原木，漂木，切竹，稻草，干芦苇，瓦片，棒子。
不要用软木做蜜蜂，因为钻孔可能会填满树脂，让蜜蜂窒息!Make sure all wood is free of chemical preservatives.
- www.foxleas.com/bee_house
- www.merthyr.gov.uk
- resonatingbodies.wordpress.com
- www.guardian.co.uk
- Building an insect habitat:cheshirewildlifetrust.org.uk
- Ulster Wildlife Trust, how to build an‘insect hotel’ habitat.
Lots more inspiration here:flickr.com/groups/insecthotels
More Insect Hotel Info
- Lots of info here (use Google Translate):de.wikipedia.org
- Creating a Bumble Bee Nest by the USDA:ars.usda.gov
- 在特拉华州养殖本土蜜蜂:dda.delaware.gov
- Enhancing Habitat for Wild Bees:www.xerces.org
- Lots of answers to yourMason Beequestions:crownbees.com
The folks at Crown Bees say that drilled holes and bamboo are not the best formason bees, since parasites or disease might also invade these homes. They say that mason bees prefer reeds or paper straws, which also allow you to observe the mason bee’s nest. Yet they say even the reeds might attract pests after three years. Crown Bees suggests that trays which are like a block of drilled wood that comes apart for cleaning are best.
Watch the tray video here:
Some suggest spraying your existing drill holes every couple of years with a 5-10% bleach solution to keep them free of disease. You might also wish to redrill the holes in case anything is stuck in there (after the bees are gone). Actually it would probably be best to have two sets of nesting blocks, after each washout, drill and store inside, and put out the alternating block.
We photographed a nice bee hotel in the Paris Botanic Garden last year.
Would this web site like a copy of the photo? If so, please email me giving suggested size in kb of JPEG file.
Recent research published in Canada suggests that unmanaged insect hotels like these can become population sinks for solitary bees.
Search for ‘‘Bee Hotels’ as Tools for Native Pollinator Conservation’ on Plos One.
Attractive as they are they, they can encourage bee parasite populations to grow stronger than in a natural environment and overwhelm the emerging generations of cavity-nesting bees.
Thank you for gathering all these wonderful images and for the helpful links. Not just inspiring, in fact, but practically helpful too
I wonder if an answer to Paul Bee’s point would be to have lots of smaller habitats rather than big ‘insect hotels’? This might mimic natural habitats better – and also spread the population out, making depletion less likely… Just a thought, as my enthusiasm was punctured somewhat by reading that.
i really think this kind of pic is really helping kids to understand what kind of homes that people do for bees and what bees do for them self
great..
谢谢你的好主意!我在ColorfulCanary上展示了它们!
Will Mason bee homes be too hot if I use tall 24-25 ounce beverage cans to stuff Knotweed stems into, to secure them in bundles, in a larger ‘house’?
I like the pictures of the insect hotels. I would like to have faith that only ‘nice’ insects would move in. Ladybugs, bees, and moths would be cool. But I live in the high desert and have black widow spiders living on my property. The insect hotel would make a great home for these dangerous arachnids. Scary…
I killed 5 black widows last year, one in the house by my small dog.
What a great article. I’ve just bought a small insect house but am now inspired to also create a larger recycled version in my garden
Hi I live in a high bear population area. I would love to help the bees by providing bee hotels for them but I have a big concern about the Bears. They come around enough and I do not want to attract them. Would this be a concern that the hotel would attract the Bears?
The Photos would make a great calendar. Posters for talks at Horticultural Societies, Libraries etc would also be great. Can you publish them and/or is the a copyright issue?
Hello, I have a large property, and am in the process to set up some insect hotels. My 1st question is, there seems to be a controversy about “unmanaged insect hotels “, i.e., whether there are really beneficial. Would it be possible to share the scientific publications behind that? I am scientist myself, and am sure I can understand complex scientific studies :o)
My 2nd question is, I have about 2 acres of unmanaged, treed land along the river, with different plants. Is it meaningful to set up insect hotels there, or would insects find enough space and opportunities between fallen trees, bushes etc. Many thanks, Hans