'Bee hotels' being built by Sarnia, Ont., group

They're called bee hotels, but they are not exactly five-star accommodations.

Simple versions can be holes drilled into pieces of wood that provide a place for solitary bees to nest. Others can be made out of phragmites stems, which are stacked in a structure. Phragmites is an reed with a hollow stem that grows in southern Ontario.

Bee hotels get their name from their ability to allow multiple bees to live alongside one another, not in a hive.

Brandy Fenwick, who has a degree in entomology and is a member of the Sarnia Urban Wildlife Committee, said  bees that use these so-called hotels tend to live on their own.

"These are bees that do not form hives or large colonies, like your typical honeybees, and [a bee hotel] gives them a place to live and then also to create nests for your young," she told CBC Radio's Afternoon Drive in an interview.

Fenwick said there are many kinds of solitary bees and they are commonly seen out and about.

"Some of them are very important pollinators of lots of crops and even some backyard garden plants," she said.

Fenwick said some solitary bees can look different from more familiar honeybees, but not everyone would be able to easily identify them.

Bee hotel basics

Fenwick said bee hotels are ideally placed in a location that gives them some sun exposure, as well as access to a nearby water source — but without leaving these structures out in the rain. 

"A great place for it is in your own backyard," she said.

It's also important to not place a bee hotel too high off the ground.

"You don't want to have to make the mother out pollinating have to fly too high up to her bee house to get back to build her cells for her developing larvae," said Fenwick.

She said studies have shown that these structures can attract a variety of types of bees, as well as other insects.

"Sometimes they can house ladybugs, or even some wasp species," Fenwick said. "But this isn't necessarily a bad thing because a lot of these other insects, that can sometimes get into these things, can also be predators of garden pests, like aphids."

The committee that Fenwick is part of is working on a project to build a couple of hundred bee hotels.

Fenwick said the committee is holding an event in Sarnia this week, in which members of the public are invited to help build some bee hotels that will be sold at an upcoming fundraiser. It's being held at 100 Christina St. and it will get underway at 6:30 p.m. Thursday.