What is the Bee & Bee?
Bee hotels, such as the Bee & Bee, are designed to attract pollinators to your flower or vegetable garden. Similar to birdhouses, bee hotels offer bees nesting habitats.
The Bee & Bee is made to house solitary bees in specific. Out of the world’s 20,000+ bee species, solitary bees make up more than 95%. Unlike their 7 honey cousins, solitary bees do not live in hives. Instead, they roam the world alone and nest in the ground or holes.
A glimpse into the lives of bees
Bee hotels attract a large number of guests. Bees make it their home, use it to find a partner and their offspring will take their first flight from the hotel. The life of a bee is a sight to behold.
The Bee & Bee is designed to offer schools and families a glimpse into this wonderful world of bees. The window in the Bee & Bee allows us to look at nature with a different view. A closer one that encourages us to bond with them.
The importance of bees
The decline in bee species and population affects not just bees, but us too.
Bees pollinate much of the food we eat – from the apples in our pies to the tomatoes in our ketchup. Without bees, eating these delicious foods would not be possible.
Solitary bees – which make up 90% of the total bee population – nest in hollow stems, earth banks, or holes in dead wood.
However, with the ongoing expansion of the human race, more and more of the bee’s natural nesting sites get eradicated.
How to become a good host to bees?
1 – Mount
Mount the Bee & Bee against a wall or fence that is facing the sun. Bees love to be warm.
Plant flowers in the area surrounding the Bee & Bee. Hotels with numerous flowers in the area are more attractive to bees.
2 – Host
Are the rooms in the hotel filling up? Slide the outer panel of the Bee & Bee to find out.
Don’t forget to close the panel when you are finished looking through the window. Just like us, bees are fond of their privacy.
3 – Maintain
Just like a regular hotel, it is important that bee hotels remain clean.
As the holes in the Bee & Bee are used more often, the holes could collect dirt, mold and sometimes unwanted guests. Dirty hotels do more harm than good to the bees. Replace the block of wood in the Bee & Bee every couple of years.
Did you know?
A solitary bee can be 120 times more effective at pollinating compared to a honey bee
Solitary bees hardly ever sting because they don't have to protect a hive
Bees can also be green, blue, or brown
