My name is Owen Ennis, I’m 17 years old and from Troop 161. I choose to build bee hotels for the Intermountain Bird Observatory for my Eagle Scout project.
I wanted to do a project that benefitted or involved animals so, after some research, I contacted Heidi at the IBO about building owl boxes. Heidi told me the IBO had enough owl boxes but suggested I build bee hotels for the IBO Boise River Research Station for my Eagle Scout project.
Bee hotels are small wooden structures made of bamboo and drilled logs that create a habitat for native bees to rest and lay their larvae. Since native bees are solitary, each female bee uses its own tunnel to nest. Native bees are different from honeybees. Native bees live in solitary instead of in a hive as honeybees do. Native bees are non-aggressive and rarely sting. Unlike honeybees, native bees come in different colors such as yellow, black, or blue. Some native bees that might use the bee hotels include leafcutter bees, mason bees, sweat bees, and carpenter bees.
The bee hotels we made are 17 inches in height and 7 inches in width made of pine. There are varying sizes of bamboo and drilled holes for different sized bees to make their nest in. A huge thanks to everyone involved in the process of making these and to Heidi for allowing us to make bee hotels for the IBO.