So, here, we have lots of different styles
of nesting materials that can be used for blue orchard bees
in orchards for pollination or just in your backyard.
This is our favorite style.
This is just a water-resistant plastic.
It's the same material that can be found in people's yards
as political signs.
But any sort of water-resistant material,
wood block, or even a milk carton,
like you can see over here.
They're just reused milk cartons.
So some sort of water-resistant material
with an awning or a ledge over top
to protect them from water and from direct sunlight.
So, here, we have cardboard tubes with paper inserts.
And they do have a plug in the back.
And that's to keep light from entering this nest.
In nature, this would be in a hollowed-out beetle
hole in the trunks of trees.
So it's very protected from light and from water.
And so we have about 50 of these straws per bundle.
And two bundles here held by some wire up top.
And then we also have some wood blocks.
That's another thing that we do like to use.
And you would put this inside of this container
to keep it sheltered.
These are just drilled holes, holes
that are drilled into blocks of wood.
The most important thing is the diameter of these holes here.
You want them to be about 7 to 8 millimeters in diameter
and about 6 inches long.
The length doesn't quite matter as much as the size
because the size is really going to determine what kind of bees
are going to use this.
So the shape doesn't really matter too much.
You can get pretty creative and try different types of wood,
different arrangements.
We do like this 7 by 7 block here.
One advantage of using these blocks
is that it has more surface area for the bees to land on.
They can sun.
They like to bask in the sun in the mornings
and just to rest on their nest block.
It's also thought that these wider-spaced nests might reduce
their time on figuring out which nest is theirs
because each female has their own nest.
And they don't share nests, so.
It's also thought, with these reeds,
it creates a geometric shape.
And that might also help females identify which nest is theirs.
So, instead of cardboard tubes with paper and straw inserts,
these are reeds.
So they can be used.
A wide range of woody materials can be used for these reeds.
This is bamboo.
But just about any woody material
that has a hollowed-out stem in the middle could work.
And another type of nesting structure you can use
is called laminates, or wafer boards.
These can be used with or without paper straws.
It's just up to you on how you like
to dissect these when it comes time in the winter.
You do want to put this, as well,
in some sort of water-resistant or protected shelter.
But these wafer boards are really
easy to break apart and get your nests out of.
Even if you don't have paper straw inserts,
you can just-- they build their cocoons right in here.
And it's very easy to check your nests
and to dissect later in the winter.
So, with these wood blocks, you can
get really creative with the different shapes
and sizes and types of wood that you want to use.
But you do want to put them in some sort of secondary shelter.
And you want to make sure that there is some sort of wall
or covering on that backside.
Don't just drill all the way through and leave these open.
You can use just aluminum foil to cover up this backside.
And that protects the inside of the nest,
keeps light out and water out of their nests.
So you might notice that most of our materials
here are dark in color.
Just from personal observation, it
seems like these blue orchard bees prefer these darker
colors.
And it does help to keep their nest structures warm.
So these bees are active early in the springtime
when weather can be very cool and fluctuate a lot.
So these darker colors help to keep their nest warm.
And they also like to use these darker colors to land and perch
on to bask in the sun.