Spring Bee House: Setup Tips from the Pros
You can think of bees as being cold-blooded and they need the warmth of the sun to get going. Your bees will have more time to fly and do all their work if they have a warm place to live that faces the morning sun. They also prefer a home that is stable, not swinging in the wind.
Choose a good bee house location:
• Within about 300ft/100m of your fruit & nut trees and berry patches.
• On a solid wall, fence, or post.
• Facing the morning sun (S or SE).
• Height: about your eye-level for easy viewing. Don't give raccoons or other critters easy access to your bees.
• Avoid installing the bee house right next to a bird feeder or a birdhouse.
• Remember to keep plants trimmed for a clear bee-line to the house.
After you install your spring bee house, place only the 8mm sized nesting holes into the house. Spring mason bees prefer the 8mm sized holes. (The 6mm sized holes included in your BeeWorks kits are meant for summer leafcutter bees.)
Worried about birds?Birds might be attracted to the bee house and keeping your bees safe is easy. Get some wire cloth with 1" openings and attach it to the front of the bee house. Make sure you give the bees space to move inside the house by bubbling the wire so that it's 2-3" away from the nesting holes. This keeps bird's beaks from being able to get to the bees.
Essential Accessories for Spring Mason Bees
Spring mason bees prefer to nest in nesting holes that smell like other mason bees have been there before. Use our InvitaBee Plus+ to attract female mason bees to nest in your fresh nesting materials.
Ensure your yard provides clayey mud for your female mason bees! Spring mason bees use mud to build walls inside of their nesting holes and they won't nest in your bee house without it nearby. If your soil is dry, loamy, sandy, or has too much humus, just add our Mason Bee Mud Mix to a patch in your yard.