Best bee hotels and bee homes

Putting up a bee hotel can help support solitary bees. We round up some of the best bee hotels and bee homes for your garden.

By Veronica Peerless

Published: Friday, 31 March 2023 at 12:00 am

Aside from honeybees and bumblebees, most bees in the UK are solitary bees. As their name suggests, they don’t live in bee hives, but nest on their own. In the wild, adult females lay their eggs in naturally occurring holes, cavities and tunnels, such as holes in dead wood or hard soil or in old plant stems. A bee hotel mimics these natural nesting areas.

Investing in a bee hotel or bee house can help support solitary bees, which are under pressure due to habitat loss. Not only is it fascinating to watch their comings and goings, but they are also efficient pollinators. The most common types of solitary bees in the UK are mason bees and leafcutter bees. Solitary bees are not aggressive as they have no queen, colony or honey to protect.

Bee houses are a simple way to do something to help our declining bee population, alongside adding lots of pollen- and nectar-rich bee-friendly plants, of course.

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© Jason Ingram

When is the best time to put up a bee hotel?

Spring is the best time to put up a bee hotel – it’s when potential residents are looking to find a nesting site.

Where to put a bee hotel

It’s important to choose the right location for a bee hotel. Put it in a sunny spot, so that it will warm up quickly in the morning. Also ensure the tube entrances are sheltered from heavy or driving rain and strong winds. Ensure that the hotel is at least one metre above the ground, and unobscured by foliage so that the bees have an easy route straight to it.

How do I know the nest is being used?

You’ll know they’re nesting if you see bees flying in with pollen to store away for their young, or if the ends of the tubes are plugged with blobs of mud, fine hairs or bits of leaf.

Cleaning out your bee hotel

Check your bee hotel every year at the end of summer and get rid of any debris – mould or mites could harm the next inhabitants.

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A red mason bee visiting a bee home

What to look for when buying a bee hotel

Check that your hotel is of good quality. Look for:

  • Ideally a range of holes of between 2-10mm in diameter – any more than this is too wide for most UK species, and means the bee has to work extra hard to fill it up.
  • Nesting tunnels and tubes should have a solid back – bees will not nest in a tunnel that is open at both ends.
  • The nesting tunnels need to be accessible so that they can be cleaned easily.
  • The entrances should be smooth, with no splinters, which can harm the bees.

The best bee hotels and bee homes for 2023

Solitary Bee Hive Hotel

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