An insect hotel offers the animals protection that they find less and less in the wild. The dwelling thus represents a meaningful contribution to species protection. It is understandable that the joy is great as soon as you can observe newly hatched bees in the garden. But when do they actually hatch?
Bees hatch in spring
time
Most bee species fly out in spring. Before that, they live as larvae in the insect hotel. (€11.33) A few types of bees produce two generations a year under optimal conditions.
Different types
The red mason bee and the fur bee are the first bee species you will see. They already pollinate the early flowering trees at the beginning of March. A few months later, the honey bees also appear.
signs
You can tell that the brood has left your insect hotel by the broken nest closures. These are usually made of clay or similar material. However, this feature can also be misleading. Sometimes nest robbers, like wasps, break into the shelter to deposit their own brood in the tube. Their offspring later feed on the hatched larvae.
Clean insect hotel
Likewise, the closed nests cannot be relied on if you want to check whether the wild bees have hatched at all. The brood of numerous species stays in the insect hotel for months. Even after six months there can still be living larvae behind closed holes. For this reason, you should not pry open the nest locks when cleaning your insect hotel.
Tips and Tricks
To tell if the brood is still alive behind the seal, there are a few useful techniques:
- Put your insect hotel in an opaque box in the spring.
- Drill a tiny hole.
- If there really is still brood behind the closures, the hatched bees fly to the light source.
- This will prevent new bees from breeding in the hotel.
- Holes that are still sealed in the fall are unlikely to contain fresh brood.