Solitary Bee Husbandry

How to look after your solitary bee houses, and the baby bees within them, over the winter, to give them the best possible start next spring. Find out more about solitary bees on our website www.wildlifewo...

[@lindawinn2568]

Thank you. Lovely to have a video on this subject with some good info. Unfortunately the subtitles were hiding a lot of what we needed to see when you were looking for larvae etc. And a close up would have been helpful too. And when you say you can pop the cocoons in the bottom of the bee house, where exactly did you mean? You also said you could pop them back into the tubes. Would that be one in each tube or lots in one tube? And don’t they need a bit of protection in there? Sorry for the questions but I’m very interested in caring for my bee houses properly.

[@WildlifeWorldUK]

Thanks for the feedback Linda, I will take a look at the subtitles. If you have taken your cocoons out of the bee hive for the winter, then it's best to pop them back into the hive itself inside the tubes in a row - just as they were before. Hope that helps, thanks

[@lindawinn2568]

Thank you for taking the time to reply. I can see there’s a lot to learn, but I find watching them fascinating so it’s worth the time spent just for the entertainment let alone conservation. 🐝 🐝

[@WildlifeWorldUK]

@@lindawinn2568 Quite agree! They're beautiful creatures to watch.

[@MrJonnyboyification]

I Bought two bee hotels & they're already being used by the bees & half of the tubes are sealed off, I stuck some roof felt on the roof to give extra protection from the rain.

[@WildlifeWorldUK]

This is great news!

[@jimbothesailor4217]

I have a very large colony of various species. Can I store them over winter in without worrying about them fighting when they wake up? Also, how do they eat if you have removed them from their food source?

[@faizd1330]

How cold can I drop the refrigerator down to without affecting the bees?

[@1dowsey]

I had a go last year with a bee house from a garden centre but would like a house like you are using in your fantastic video. Can I buy them from you by any chance

[@WildlifeWorldUK]

Hello please find a link here to all of our solitary bee houses wildlifeworld.co.uk/collections/solitary-bees

[@philiptreacy8555]

I’ve made a solitary bee nest with bamboo canes. Question is these can’t be opened so do they just eat there way out in spring?

[@WildlifeWorldUK]

Yep you're right - the baby bees make their own way out each spring time 🥰

[@jamesmckenna5993]

I have just ordered a bee hotel as I finally have. A garden is it to late to have some bees in or will they be fine ti get some in afore winter

[@kieranmccauley6593]

Thanks for the video. Very insightful. What month in the UK would you recommend taking the cocoons out? I have been using mine for two years and it’s been full each summer but haven’t cleaned it out or removed the cocoons. Thanks! .

[@Osmiculture]

Usually from October. Although I am not quite sure how you'd take them out of the top row.

[@ellydavis2066]

Wished you had done more close-up shots and also higher up in the screen so the captions weren't obscuring it. You were fairly going at the slots with the end of that brush and it seems to me something I need to get right, I would have liked to see it all close up. I just bought 2 of your boxes, 1 for me and 1 for an xmas present but other than what's printed on the outside of the box there are no instructions so I'm searching YT and Google in general to put together a printed sheet for the one I'm giving away. So they nest in spring/summer and about October I take it apart and try to get these kidney bean sized pods out? I put them in a tupperware box in the fridge. Is it okay that it's sealed and airtight? When do I bring this out? Is it okay to put multiple pods into each room? The mesh you put over the front wouldn't that just act as a perch for the birds and as the holes in the mesh are large they'll just stand on the mesh and stick their beaks in to the rooms? Would it be better to put the mesh further away? Make a kind of box that projects about 2 inches away from the room entranceways? Very much looking forward to next year but so many questions. I don't want to be responsible for a massacre in my garden. eek

[@leekirk9218]

We have a couple of either solitary bees or wasps in our bee house and are wondering if we should leave it out for them or do we take it inside and clean it out, but leave their sections alone? Any advice would be greatly appreciated 😊😊

[@Samhsong]

We have a hotel for solitary bees. We also have a honey bee colony. Is it possible that the hotel could spread disease to our honey bees? We will clean & store it over winter as in this video

[@nikomandl3427]

Solitary bees don't affect honey bees! Cleaning as described is not necessary. Only if you want to crash into natural cycles. Humans tend to do so. But nature will thrive even more if you give room for developement.

[@Osmiculture]

Sadly there are seven 'facts' or tips that are wrong or innacurate in this video, if you want to help mason bees or the other benign species that could use these spaces.

[@jimbothesailor4217]

Explain them then. So that people can learn from this.

[@Osmiculture]

@@jimbothesailor4217 I am sorry, but whatever I offer as advice (after nearly 19 years of raising these bees), is mostly recovered by the big businesses mostly wanting to profit from selling cocoons (wild animals) and making money off the emotive panic of supposedly 'helping' bees with crappy designs that end up overwhelming the local populations with parasites and thus sinking populations. My old channel @solitarybee went silent whilst I was trying to figure out how to combat the cocoon trade, but I may come back if the fight comes back to me.