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Wildlife gardening

How to make a bumble bee nest box

Encourage valuable bumblebees to your garden, with this easy to construct flower-pot nest box.
Bumblebee on echinacea.
Most gardens will attract bumble bees, especially with the right flowers providing pollen.

Bumblebees are larger and hairier than their cousins the honey bees, which makes them perfectly suited for colder climates. This extra insulation allows them to venture out on cold days when honeybees stay tucked up inside. 

They play a vitally important role in pollinating crops that provide us with food to eat and the colourful flowers in our landscape. Without their ‘free bee’ service, many wildflowers could disappear.

Most gardens will attract bumble bees, especially with the right, pollen-rich flowers. See Flowers for Wildlife. 

Bumblebees are social insects and live in nests of up to 400 individuals. Bumblebees do not swarm and are not aggressive. (Only female bumblebees can sting and they will only do so if they feel very threatened.) Each nest is ruled by a queen and lasts for just one year. This is different from honeybee hives which remain active for several years.

You can encourage bumblebees to nest in your garden by making an easily constructed artificial nest site. 

You will need:

  • Terracotta flower pot
  • Piping or hose, with a hole around 2cm (approximately 3/4 inch) in diameter
  • Chicken wire
  • Tile
  • Nesting materials such as moss, organically sourced straw, dry garden clippings.

Method

  1. Dig a hole, a third of the depth of your flower pot. The soil must be well-draining otherwise the nest and its contents will start to decay.
  2. Create a saucer shape from your wire and insert into the pot.
  3. Fill this with your nesting materials.
  4. Add a piece of piping, so one end will be in the nest and one end will be poking out of the soil, so the bees can climb in and out.
  5. Turn the pot upside down - being sure to hold-in the contents - and place into the dug-out hole so the pipe is sticking out of the ground but the pot is buried.

Remember bumblebees usually make use of old vole nests or those of wood mice; they choose dry sites, and warmth is also essential. The base of a south-facing hedge would be perfect.

It is best to make this nest site before April when the queen will be out and searching for a suitable nest site.

Bumblebees are not easy to upset, so if you are patient and move slowly there is little chance of being stung – but do take care, especially if you are allergic to bee stings!