Our bumblebees are critically endangered, and numerous species are on the Red List of Endangered Species. If you would like to help preserve these animals that are important for our nature, you could contact us Build a bumblebee nest box so that (perhaps rare) bumblebees offspring in your garden to produce:
Build a bumblebee nest box
For the Construction of a bumblebee nest box you will need five boards measuring 40 x 40 cm, 2 cm thick, which will form the bottom and side walls. A board measuring 50 x 50 cm of the same thickness will later become the roof. First, drill an entrance hole with a diameter of 2.5 cm in what will later be the front, about 10 cm above the center of one of the 40 cm boards. A flight board about 5 cm deep and 15 cm wide is glued under this entrance hole, which the bumblebees use for take-off and landing. Either a piece of scrap wood can be used for this, or a cardboard box like the packaging of a toothpaste.
In two of the 40 cm boards, drill at least five holes with a diameter of 1.5 to 2 cm for ventilation, 2 cm below the upper edge, which are then sealed with gauze or gauze. Now the floor can
Set up the bumblebee box correctly
The box is then filled with small animal litter from the drugstore up to a few centimeters below the entrance hole. Now the further equipment can be brought in. For this you need a box of about 20 x 20 cm and 20 cm high, it could also be a little larger, e.g. B. a tall shoebox. A large hole is cut in the front of this cardboard box, then place this cardboard box in the bumblebee box. The entrance hole must point to the hole in the cardboard box; litter is now also filled into the cardboard box. In the front center of the box, create a nesting trough in which a nest made of upholstery wool is placed. You can get upholstery wool in upholstery shops, it must be untreated.
To do this, you tear up a handful of upholstery wool, form a cave in it and place this nest where the Bumblebees arrive in the box from the entrance hole. The entrance hole is then connected to the nest in the box by a walkway. This can e.g. B. can be tinkered with a roll of toilet paper cut in half lengthways, the connection should be made from
This is why the tips that the bumblebee nest box should be painted waterproof because it is set up outdoors should also be viewed critically. Because that could only be done with a color or with a wood oil that does not disturb the bumblebee's sense of smell. Since the bumblebees use their smell to detect nectar over long distances, among other things, their sense of smell is certainly quite finely developed. Many bumblebee friends therefore limit themselves to having the roof board on top Roofing felt to cover and hope that the roof overhang prevents the interior from soaking. The lid is simply put on, it could be stabilized by a surrounding frame of small strips, which have the outer edges of the lower box as internal dimensions.
Location for the bumblebee nest box
You now need to find a location for this bumblebee nest box that makes the settlement of a queen likely. In nature, most bumblebee species nest in abandoned nests of smaller mammals, only the tree bumblebee clings to tree hollows. Your nesting box now mimics such a small mammal's nest, so it should be set up accordingly: In an at least partially shaded environment, in which there is always a constant temperature and humidity will. The box can be warmed up by the morning sun, but should then not be able to heat up any further, as no mouse would build its nest in the scorching heat. You should also have good access to the bumblebee nest box, you want to check whether
something is happening.Have bumblebees settled?
If you have set up the box in good time in spring and a passing bumblebee queen has found it, she will eventually accept it. Your chances increase the more attractive the bumblebee nest box is to the queen, e.g. B. you could build a small ramp to the entrance hole with a sloping board. The more similar the interior design is to a mouse's nest, the more comfortable the queen will feel, good is So if you have some damp moss in addition to upholstery wool and ideally the remains of a mouse nest bring in.
If you don't want to wait to see whether a bumblebee queen will take pity on your nesting box, you could actively introduce the bumblebees. To do this, in some federal states you need the approval of the responsible nature conservation authority, as you have to catch the bumblebees for a short time. Then you would have to find a young bumblebee queen in the spring who is looking for a nesting opportunity, catch her and put it in the nesting box. If you want to catch a bumblebee queen and put it in a bumblebee nest box, you must follow a certain procedure in order to succeed.
If the queen has accepted the nest box, she shows this through her behavior, if you take effective preventive measures Met wax moths in the bumblebee nest box, there is now nothing standing in the way of a new generation of bumblebees In the way. If no bumblebee queen liked your bumblebee nest box, which unfortunately happens quite often, you still can Working for bumblebee protection: Many people will ask you about the wooden box that you have in your garden stands. When you explain why every time Bumblebees should be protected and how much that helps us all, you have already done a lot for the bumblebee protection.
