s high by 7 inches wide and 7 inches long. Drill a few ventilation holes on the upper sides of the box (near the roof) and cover with window screen to deter ants. Also drill some drainage holes in the bottom. Make an entrance tunnel from 3/4-inch diameter plastic pipe and fill the box with soft bedding material, such as short lengths of soft unraveled string, dry straw or upholsterer's cotton (do not use cotton balls, as the fibers become tangled in the bees' legs). The box must be weather tight; if the nest gets damp, the larvae may become too cold and mold and fungus will grow.
Bumble Bee Box.
Place the nest in a dry, undisturbed area that has some obvious landmarks (a fence post, rock or building) to aid bee navigation; these landmarks are important to bees returning from foraging. Nesting boxes that are at ground level or slightly buried (either with soil or straw) are the most attractive to queens of many species. Boxes placed on the surface should be level and stable. If you are burying your box, extend the entrance pipe so it gently slopes up to the surface and clear the vegetation from an area a few inches around where the pipe surfaces.
The best time to install a bumble bee nest box is in early spring, when the first queens have emerged from hibernation and are searching for a nest site; in many areas, this is when the willows first start blooming.
Bumble bee nests require little maintenance. Watch your boxes through the spring and early summer. Any above-ground boxes that are unoccupied by late July can be removed, cleaned and put into storage until the following spring. This is not vital, and if you have a lot of boxes on a large site it may not be practical. In late fall or early winter inspect all the boxes that have been occupied. Remove the old nests, clean them and make any repairs. Cleaning the boxes with a bleach-water solution (1:2 ratios) will help reduce parasites and diseases in the nests. The following spring, add fresh nesting material to all the boxes.
The package bumble bee industry, whi