Build a house for bumblebees

Again we have a letter from a subscriber, now about bumblebees. So kind that I smiled from start to finish. Now it's your turn to smile. First-person story, slightly edited.

Where do bumblebees live

In early spring, when the gooseberries and apricots are just blooming, it is still cold. But work is in full swing in the garden. The main workers pollinating our shrubs and trees are BUMPIES!

I always asked myself the question, where do these workers live? I know that it is advised to build nests for them, only rarely did anyone give good advice.

And how well they work! Here the blackberry has bloomed:

It blooms profusely. Looks like a bride at a wedding. All in flowers. And in this beauty there is a monotonous hum. These are bumblebees flapping their wings. There are so many of them that it is hard to believe that there are so many of them. These are not bees that live and winter in comfortable conditions.

Today, quite by accident, I received an answer to my question, where do our assistants live. Here is how it was. It took us to shorten the apple branch. It has grown in such a way that when the winds blow, the branch shakes, and it begins to knock on the roof of the house.

So they built a ladder, put it more comfortably, and I climbed to saw off this very branch. As soon as I started to make noise, a flock appeared around me! With fright and surprise at first it was difficult to understand who was attacking me?! He descended to the ground, and this swarm descended with me. Now that there is no threat that I will fall down the stairs, considered. It was a swarm of bumblebees. I have never seen such a quantity in my life. But still, where do they live? When the bumblebees-defenders calmed down, they hurried about their family business. And it turned out that the family lives in a birdhouse.

Well, that's nice. Whatever one may say, but these neighbors are better than the former ones, i.e. starlings. Starlings, with all due respect to them, are still those pigs.

I will have my own bumblebees, pets

Everything became clear. It turns out that you need to make a birdhouse out of a thick board. But the hole - the entrance must be made of such a size that the bird cannot penetrate there. And bumblebees could fly freely.

But keep in mind that the bumblebee is not a bird. Therefore, when setting up a bumblebee house, you need to stuff straw or hay in advance. Bumblebees will nest in this litter.

What will such a house be good for? And the fact that the birdhouse can be hung where the mouse will not reach it in the first place. After all, mice love to feast on bumblebee. Well, the rest of the enemies of the bumblebee will not get them.

By the way, you need to remember that it is advisable to place this nest under a canopy. It will protect not only from rain, but also from the sun's rays. Otherwise, bumblebees will have to work not as pollinators in our garden, but as air conditioners for the birdhouse. Bumblebees don't like heat! Today the temperature is over thirty, and the bumblebees take turns flapping their wings blowing on their home.

Now we have our own bumblebee farm

Yesterday I closed the greenhouse for the night and saw that one bumblebee could not fly out, got lost. Somehow I helped him out. Let him fly home to sleep.

They are already working early in the morning. I watched the work of five bumblebees and was moved. There was a sense of ownership: now I know for sure that these are OUR BUMPIES, they need to be taken care of! They will pollinate our beans soon!

It turns out that you can breed bumblebees! Someone breeds chickens, but we were lucky enough to have a family of bumblebees. And I immediately want to call them affectionately: our bumblebees.

I already think to build a house especially for bumblebees. Now I know what it should be like. From a thick board, and with a small hole - a tap hole. The main thing is that the bird cannot settle. Well, do not forget to stuff the hay, there will be a feather bed for the bumblebees. So that they slept softly and did not freeze in winter.

Here is a letter!

We are not so

We have stray bumblebees. We have enough :) This year I want to collect seeds from tomatoes. I got 108 varieties of one bush, mostly. So, I really would not want bumblebees to pollinate them. There will be a re-grading. Fortunately, bumblebees prefer clover, it grows next to the greenhouse, and other flowers.

It is in large industrial tomato greenhouses that bumblebees are specially kept. A family with a hive costs from 3500 r. They say that yields are increased by 30%.

How do you feel about bumblebees?

I would be grateful for your subscription and communication :)