You’re spending time in your own home, but ever thought of building a home for some of your native bees?
Lots of Australia’s native bees are endangered, through Habitat Loss or competition from introduced species, but did you know that you can help by building them their own hotel in your backyard?
Note: Most Native Bees are stingless, but you should still be very careful when spending time around them.
You can find information about building your very own bee hotel in many places, but here are some of the websites that we recommend:
https://www.backyardbuddies.org.au/habitats/build-a-bee-hotel
https://www.abc.net.au/gardening/factsheets/bee-hotel/9440586
https://blog.csiro.au/how-to-make-your-garden-native-bee-friendly/
Remember: you will need an adult’s help when using any power tools or cutting
Plan
What Native Bees live in your area? What type of habitat do they require?
How can you include this kind of habitat in your own Bee Hotel?
Scouts, Venturer Scouts and Rover Scouts:
What stages of the Bee’s life cycle are covered by your Bee Hotel?
How can you add on additional “rooms” to be able to support these additional stages?
Do
What Materials are you going to use, and where are you going to get them?
Who can help you with building your hotel?
Where are you going to put your hotel?
Scouts, Venturer Scouts and Rover Scouts:
Create a budget to go with your Bee Hotel. What sources of grants or funding could you use to create a series of Hotels?
Review
What ongoing maintenance is required for your hotel?
How could you record the species and numbers of bees visiting your hotel?
