This page presents instructions for 2 different styles of mason bee homes, a wood house and a hose made of an inexpensive PCV pipe. I have made both of these types of homes.
Wood Design for Mason Bee house
This fall, as part of a project, I designed a very simple box shaped house that works perfectly for Mason Bee tubes. The materials needed to make this box is a saw, 1/2 inch plywood (or any other waterproof wood material), Screws (rust free), and a drill. Make sure to have an adult help you.
Design:
Diagram 1
- Cut the plywood as shown in the design above.
- Put together the box and drill starter holes for the screws
- Assemble box as shown in Diagram 1 with screws.
- Attatch to a sheltered place on either the east or west side so that the mud has a chance to dry with the rising or setting of the sun.
PVC Mason Bee house
This is a very easy and inexpensive do it yourself mason bee house. See the home orchard society their excellent flyer
Purchase a 10″ PVC plumbing drain pipe (~$10 for a 10ft pipe, makes about 9 bee homes!) and roll of perforated metal hanger strapping from your local home improvement store.
You are going to cut the pipe with angled cuts, to allow the top of the pipe to overhang/protect the tubes from rain. An electric miter saw makes very quick work of this. Set the saw angle to approx 60 degrees and start cutting. Then use the strapping to secure the house to your house or some other wood object.
See the Home Orchard Society’s flyer for a nice diagram of the PVC bee house and with instructions of how to use their very inexpensive easy tear 12″ tubes.