We have a bee hotel and it's so damn cute seeing these little solitary bees filling up the holes.
We probably have 20-30 nests.
Ooh I've been debating getting one!
What species are they?
If you have a drill, they're stupid easy to make. Read about what size holes the bees in your area like. And leave a smooth edge on the entry! They won't use it if they sense a risk to their wings.
Might as well roll your own, not like you can reuse them after they nest. Mites and such are an issue.
You can reuse them, but you have to carefully clean the nesting holes. I have professionally made bee houses that I use. The wooden blocks that hold the nesting holes can be removed, opened, and sanitized. This also allows you to harvest cocoons to keep safe from predators/weather for the next year.
Yay! Me too! I had so many different species visit my yard this year. Like 3 different species of big 'bumble bees'. And so many of the other kind. I like the iridescent green one!! :-D
OPs post reminded me to get a new one built!
Whereabouts do you live and what sizes of holes are you drilling?
Moreso. Everyone started getting honey bees that it’s now having an impact on native bees.
Honey bees got hyped up as a problem because the large agricultural industries that relied on them was having a problem. It is an actual problem but not just honey bees. Everyone got so hyped that we’ve note got the old problem and a new problem too.
In this thread: Animals only deserve to live if they have a direct use case to us humans. People here are not sure whats alle the fuss about mass extinction. Carry on beloved free market capitalism.
Honey Bee is not even in danger at the places where it comes from. People brought it to America and now it competes with local pollinators.
Yep yep! The main bees in trouble are cute little bumble bees. Since some native plants work best with their native bees, it's problematic that the sweet little dummies are struggling.
But we just really love their cousins that produce candy in exchange for houses.
Honey Bees and Bumble Bees are great. They're fun to watch, and are very docile/relaxed. I will always stop to watch one, or avoid while mowing.
If you're asking me about carpenter bees or any wasp, hornet, or yellow jacket, they can all die in a fire. Those call for scorched earth.
Edit: my most recent acquaintance :)
I recently watched a video of a bee keeper showing how his bees were kept save because he fed the wasps fermented pare. So it kept them happy and docile and really showed how some wasps species can co exist and play a part in Mother Nature which we often forget.
But mosquitoes… fuck them, they can all die.
Also, cute ass little bee photo. 🐝
Some wasps look scary but all they want to do is hang around the flowers.
Apparently there are some wasps that are pollinators and also not assholes, but I don't bother to Google which is which before murdering them. If they want to live they shouldn't be asshole shaped.
Wasps are all pollinators, they just don't make honey si people hate them.
Paper wasps are generally good pollinators and not assholes, but they have yellow striping to make them look scary.
Yellow jackets are assholes, unusually aggressive and territorial and this becomes a problem because they also tend to love human food and beverage. In my region, I would also say fuck the bald-faced hornet, which is naturally related to the yellow jacket and is similarly aggressive. Fortunately less common (I haven't been stung by one, but apparently it's worse than it is with a yellow jacket).
Boll's Potter wasps (if I'm remembering their name correctly) are also common where I am and they are pretty chill and just go about pollinating. I'm sure there are a bunch of others that I haven't yet learned to identify.
tl;dr: Yellow jackets and their relatives are assholes. The rest are mostly okay.
Fuck wasps tho
But hornets are cute. And they eat wasps
Wasps are just as important in most ecosystems. They prey on pests, are pollinators, and act as decomposers. The only species of wasp you should hate in the US is the only one that is invasive: the Asian 'murder' hornet.
They also prey on me and my food which other bee types do not.
Some species of wasps pollinate and eat smaller pests.
So don't hate on the territorial demons too much!
Save all bees. Except carpenter bees, which are to be terminated with extreme prejudice.
(/s obviously, I'm sure they are important to the larger ecosystem somehow)
Fucking carpenter bees (aka winged termites). Ironically, the males have no stingers but they are extremely aggressive and will kamakazi dive bomb you in the face repeatedly if you get near the entrance to the nest.
I keep (as much as solitary bees can be "kept") native mason and leafcutter bees every year. I love when they first emerge from their cocoons. They're so tiny and adorable. They're also completely non-aggressive and never mind when I mess with their bee houses (mostly to remove spider webs). My plants love the bees as well.
What commercial purpose do non-honey bees serve??? Why should we save them???
Edit: yeesh, didn't think that needed an /s
Viewing things from a solely commercial perspective is myopic and like most capitalistic business practitioners, promotes a mindset that thinks waaay too short term. You can't make your money off your crops decades from when you're only thinking about this quarters profits. Put simply, the selfish you today fucks yourself over tomorrow.
But even if you were to take this myopic and short sighted approach, Honey Bees are just average pollinators amongst a diverse range of insects and some small birds.
Additionally planting a wide variety of drought resistant flora is better for both wild as well as domesticated pollinators and is a more environmentally friendly practice than just keeping honey bees.
I offer two points for consideration:
Bees help plants maintain genetic diversity among certain plants that other pollinators may not target. Genetic diversity helps maintain a thriving variety of plant, tolerant to different environments. Especially important is our environments are changing.
Animals that are bred until they cannot survive outside of certain environments, (co-dependence) are destined to become extinct in the absence of said environment. (In case there's any confusion, insects fall under the umbrella of "animals" taxonomically. Also, in this sentence, the codependent animals may be humans.)
Diverse populations of bees provide benefits and necessities outside of commercial purposes, and are going the way of the American Bison. (Please note the differences from the way of the dinosaur.)
#allbeesmatter
Last panel should say "spray for mosquitoes again"
If you hate wasps its because you're a coward and deserve to be stung anyway
I don't hate wasps, but I wish they'd realize the apple I'm eating comes from the tree right behind me, that has a thousand more for them to munch on
Okay, but like, clearly that is their apple???
I mean so are all the others.
And you are their meat if they get too hungry.
They can be important pollinators while also being tiny demons.
I'm all for symbiotic relationships, but that should also mean I get to eat an apple in peace. We literally have four apple trees in our backyard, plenty for everybody, and I let them eat whatever they want to their hearts desire.
I think they're just nearsighted and not very smart
Open one for it. They smell the sweet delicious insides but can't smell the skin
95% of the ones on the trees are already pricked open by whatever animal found them
yeah... and arent the threatened bess only the ones that live alone and arent used by humans to make honey anyway?
Save the bumblefucks
What about the non bee insects?
Not many realize this, but sticking with the non-bee pollination theme you have things like beetles, butterflies, moths, some species of flies, ants, wasps... the list goes on.
Non-inscect options include some speciea of bats and birds.
That's not even getting into the tons of other useful things insects do.
1/4th of all known organisms are a beatle
Statistically speaking one of them must be a beatle 🧐
My parents have a hive of wood bees in the pergola my dad made. They pollinate our lime tree and I love them
