Setting up a bumblebee box and rescuing animals: When is the right time

Created: 02/10/2022, 16:03

By: Franziska Irrgeher

Queen bumblebees are slowly starting to look for quarters, so the bumblebee house should be ready.

There are a few things to consider when buying and location.

Berlin – It can start around the end of February and bumblebee queens are looking for a new quarters.

Ideally, a natural garden should be designed in such a way that the bumblebee can establish its colony in a natural environment.

Where this is not possible or where there are too many disruptive factors, bumble bee boxes are a good idea.

They are becoming better known and more popular.

Setting up a bumblebee box and rescuing animals: When is the right time

You don't see many bumblebees in mid-February, but you can already see one or the other carpenter bee.

So why bother trying to get a bumblebee box in February when the bumblebees only start flying around March?

Obtaining a suitable nesting aid often takes a little time, and you then have enough time to find the ideal location.

And who knows, maybe the bumblebees will be out earlier when the temperatures are mild, as reported by 24garten.de.

A bumblebee box should meet certain requirements (symbol image).

© John Mason/Imago

Many garden fans are now happy about the fat, plush insects, because bumblebees help pollinate tomatoes, for example.

Of course, a bumblebee would normally not need a nest box, and there are many different bumblebees with different requirements.

Ground bumblebees, for example, nest underground.

But even gardens rarely offer really perfect conditions, so people can help.

How to make the garden interesting for bumblebees:

• According to the "Naturschutzbund Deutschland" ("Nabu"), all bumblebees die in autumn except for the mated young queen.

  They then look for a nesting site in early spring.

  The "Nabu" names mouse holes, stone crevices, piles of dead wood, bird nests and house insulation as places that are examined.

• In order for the bumblebee to find the garden interesting at all, suitable plants should of course not be missing.

  According to "Nabu", the young queens feed on food supplies, then they need flowers that donate nectar and pollen.

  A garden with the right plants will draw the young queens' attention and with a bit of luck they will find a nesting place there too.

  Animal lovers can help exhausted bumblebees with a spoonful of sugar water.

• As the "Nabu" reports, the bumblebees also like to accept man-made nesting boxes.

  It makes sense to offer different nesting aids, and a bumblebee box is buried, the experts report.

  Ideally, you observe exactly which bumblebees are cavorting in the garden and choose suitable nesting aids.

• Important: Anyone who finds a bumblebee nest in summer must not remove it, they are protected.

So if the garden provides food almost all year round and is not treated with pesticides, there is a good chance that a bumblebee will want to move in.

Nest boxes help, but are only a substitute for natural nesting sites.

Set up a bumblebee box and save animals: the choice is large

Not everything that is offered as a bumblebee box or nesting aid is also suitable.

In addition, even with a perfect nest box, the wrong location can become a problem.

If you want to help the animals, you should either build them yourself according to the instructions from nature conservation or buy them from experts.

There are detailed instructions and videos for filling and setting up.

The nest box should not be too wet or too sunny, there are also above-ground and underground variants.

Depending on the nesting aid, wax moth protection should definitely be available.

Since the boxes are partly made by hand, it may take some time before they arrive or are homemade.

So it doesn't hurt to look around and get information as early as mid-February, because then, with a bit of luck, the first bumblebees can move into their new homes in March.