Bird Feeders and Bird HousesOutdoor ProjectsProjects

Build a Bee House

Bee House
Building this BeeHouse is a Super Easy project.

I’ve made a lot of bird houses and feeders over the years and they’re always fun projects.  This Bee House (sometimes called a Bee Hotel) project was a new one for me and I’m really looking forward to seeing how well it works.  When it comes to Bee Houses I think most people think of a traditional bee hive with honey bees.  However, many bees are not hive bees and prefer solitude.  These solitary bees include bees such as Mason, and Leafcutter bees.  They like to burrow into wood and prefer solitude.  I found a plan from a book titled: Birdhouses & More by A.J. Hamler.  It’s a good book and the author does a great job of keeping things simple.  The plan included was no different and is extremely easy to follow.  The Bee House was made out scrap pine and cedar wood.  The cuts and assembly are extremely easy and this makes it an excellent beginning woodworking project.

If you make one of these be sure to post a picture of it over on the WoodLogger Facebook Page.  I’d love to see how yours turns out.

 

 

Material List

  • (1) 2″ x 6″ x 6′ – pine (or any softwood)
  • (1) 1″ x 6″ x 4′ – cedar (You’ll only need a small board for this)

Milling & Assembly

Bee House Rough CutsBee House Rough Cuts To get started on building the Bee House.  I cut (4) 2 x 6 Pine boards to a length of 8″.  Next I cut the roof to a length of 7″.  This allows for an overhang of a 1/2″ on both sides.

I chose to make my house with four boards across, but you can easily add or subtract more boards to meet your needs.  Be sure to adjust your roof to the size you decide on.  If you want a set of plans be sure to check out the book I picked up at Amazon.com.

Bee House Assembly Bee House Assembly Next up, I glued the four boards using an exterior rated glue.  I used clamps to hold in it place until it was dry.
Bee House Assembly Bee House Assembly Before drilling holes into the boards I drew a grid across all of the boards so that I could space out the holes one inch apart.  Solitary bees like different size holes depending on the species.  To accommodate this I drilled two different size holes.  I used 1/4″ and 5/16″ spade bits and staggered them across my boards.
Bee House Assembly Bee House Assembly Next up I attached the roof to the house using brad nails.  The roof is for aesthetics and also helps protect the house from the elements.
Bee House Finishing I decided to stain my house and seal it.  This is an optional step, but sealing it will help the house hold up longer.

 

Enter your email if you want a free subscription to this site(we’ll never share your email):

 

Items Used to Finish this

6 Comments

  1. Try drill holes at different sizes! I have a beehouse in my garden. The wholes have different diameters. Varying between 2 and 6 mm. Some sizes are used al lot, others are not. Mason bee’s seem to be very particular with the size, they only use the 3mm wholes.

Leave a Reply

This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

Back to top button
Send this to a friend