Been busy building bee boards
Wanting to take better care of the bees I have in my garden, I've found a design that's good for letting solitary bees make homes inside and a way for me to clean out these homes between seasons.
Using a wood router, I got a rounded bit that carved out channels inside the wood planks. When stacked on top of each other the bees will climb inside and make cells inside for their cocoons.
Once the bees lay their eggs inside and leave the homes for the season, I can take them in my workshop and remove the cocoons. This is done to inspect them for mites or other parasites that compete with the cocooned Mason bees. In some cases running the cocoons through said will remove mites or other unwanted pests.
I've left a dozen or so planks out in my bee home, curious to see if they get populated by second generation leafcutter bees. Otherwise they should be prime homes for next springs emergence.
I also got some clear plastic to fit to a few of the planks. That way I can observe them building homes inside. It will be fun to see them working inside their homes.
Well I got a bunch more boards to make.. I'm going to try two different sized holes, waiting for my smaller round tip router bit to show up. So we will see what the bees prefer for hole size. My plan is to fill these cubbie holes with my bee boards. So by next spring I will have more than enough homes for all my bees that hopefully emerge from the bamboo homes.
Sure makes alot of sawdust, and have to take breaks to let the tool cool down and to air out the garage. I'm making a dozen or so boards a day so should fill up those cubby holes in a week or so.
#woodworking carpentry #beekeeping #diy #garden
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Super cool! How deep do they like for the channels to be? You could pick up scrap pieces of wood for free from a local cabinet shop. I used to work at one and would get scrap pieces all the time.
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@nateonsteemit it's hard to say since this is the first time I've built them.. but these channels are about half an inch deep. I plan on making smaller channels as well and will see which ones they like more.
Good idea, thanks for the tip.
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Hello...!!
@solominer
Fantastic...!!
Thank You for helping the bees 🐝..!!
I'd like to make something like this or perhaps purchase.
:D
@annephilbrick thanks alot, yeah I hope to help them alot.. if they fill all the homes I plan on building I should increase my bee population by quite a bit.
Yes I am planning on selling them, I will be working with @homesteaderscoop to list my bee boards on their website. Then people can send me Steem for the bee boards and I can ship them out.
If you have a router and time and can deal with the sawdust they arent too hard to make. But I'll be happy to sell you some when I've produced enough.
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Hello...!! :D
@solominer
Totally awesome you plan on selling them @homesteaderscoop website. I shall look for them...😊 ...!!!!
Quite a project. Like the plastic idea for a sneak peek :-)
@manorvillemike yeah sure has been, this is my first job working with a wood router so it's been quite the learning experience. Yeah those plastic windows will be interesting to see how they build their homes. I wonder if I will need to keep them in the dark or now.. the bees seem to be affected by light.
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Nice carved out channels inside the wood planks photography.
@kamrunnahar thanks alot
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I am not into bees and rather have less idea about them but with the work as it seems that you have been upto all the best for it ;) the next week would be pretty busy I guess !!
@rehan12 I'm hoping this hard work will pay off too. Guess time will tell, hah yeah sure will. Thanks for the comment.
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