Many people are aware of the importance that large-scale pollinators, such as mason bees, have on the prosperity and well-being of our ecosystem. But, did you know that your garden can also act as a mini-ecosystem that can help increase the population of bees? Well, with Mason Bee House designs, you can do exactly that. And there are also benefits for the plants in your garden.
Mason bees will typically nest in pre-made cavities found in nature, such as hollows stems or holes made by woodpeckers and insects. This makes the mason bee house, structured to have natural cavities, an ideal home for increasing bee populations. And what this can also do is increase the productivity and yield of vegetables, plants, and flowers in your garden.
We know Mason bees to be 20 times more effective at pollination than regular honeybees. A Mason Bee House is one of the most cost-effective and natural alternatives for a greener environment.
Maybe you’re a beginner beekeeper wanting to know a little more about bee houses. Perhaps you’re just someone who wants to contribute to the salvation of the dwindling bee population. Either way, you’re in the right place!
We’ve compiled everything you need to know about housing Mason bees, purchasing the right design. You can encourage and increase your own population of pollinators. In the end, you’ll increase the well-being of your garden’s ecosystem.
So, let’s get into it!
Mason Bee House FAQ
There are many types of Mason Bee House designs available to beekeepers. The materials used to make them vary by maker and beekeeper preferences. You can even make your own mason bee house if you choose. Usually, however, it’s much easier and more efficient to buy one ready-to-go.
Some of the most popular designs are the cottage style that uses wood or the tear-drop design that uses bamboo. Both forms provide durable and effective housing for a wide variety of bees, insects, and plant-friendly bugs.
While solitary bees may not produce honey for you to enjoy, beekeeping and housing require no training at all. Best of all, it offers prosperous benefits to your garden’s ecosystem. All you have to do is purchase one ready-to-go.
But where do you start? We’ve prepared a list of frequently asked questions, as well as our top picks of bee houses, in order to help you on your search to find the best mason bee house.
1. What Is a Mason Bee House?
Essentially, a bee house is a man-made shed that contains a number of artificial holes that mimic the habitat that mason bees prefer for nesting and laying eggs. The housing provides a safe place from predators, hard weather conditions, and any airborne chemicals that may interfere with the bee’s reproductive cycle.
Bee houses also allow you to harvest cocoons easily and offer durable protection for the bee larva. By supplying clean holes for nesting, having a garden as a source of pollen, and harvesting cocoons, you can guarantee a healthy population of bees in your garden over the seasons.
2. What Are Some Things I Should Keep in Mind?
Some key things to keep in mind as a novice beekeeper would be to keep your mason bee houses close to each other. Mason bees prefer to nest near one another. Beekeepers often take advantage of this behavior to capitalize on productivity and yield growth in vegetables, plants, and flowers.
Generally, larger-scale bee houses and nesting supplies equals more mason bees over time, and from your starter population, the bees will gradually take up the whole nest.
Make sure to keep an eye on your bee house because once it’s full, you may need a new one. However, this is only necessary if you have the space for an additional bee house. Perhaps you feel you need more bees for your productivity needs.
If you have a large area or garden to cover, you will most likely need a number of bee houses to pollinate the surrounding flora effectively.
3. When Should I Install a Mason Bee House?
Beginner beekeepers who are just starting to house mason bees should have the bee house ready for spring. As spring advances and the flowers begin to bloom, and local mason bees will find your mason bee house. Timing is critical for mason beekeeping because if you miss spring, your mason bee population may fall.
Mason bees need resources and time to mate, lay eggs, and collect food resources. If one of these important life cycles is not done properly, then the whole population may fail and produce no offspring for the following season.
Also, where possible, allow the morning sun to hit your mason bee house. This helps warm up the bees and gets them active earlier in the day. All bee species, including mason bees, are ectothermic, meaning that they depend on the environment and muscle activity to heat their bodies.
How We Reviewed
To determine the best Mason Bee House, we researched various top-selling lists of bee houses. We also checked customer feedback reviews for ranking. From there, we created a list of our picks for the top 12 best Mason Bee House designs based on their different Features, Price, and Where to Buy, for your comparison.
Overall Price Range
With many variations on the Mason Bee House design, it can be a little confusing to know which is the best value for your money is. A Mason Bee House can vary in size, shape, weight, material, mounting (rope hanger or metal hooks) or standing base, durability, and sustainability which all impact pricing.
What We Reviewed
- Niteangel Natural Wooden Hotel Bee Bug House
- Gardener’s Supply Company Mason Bee House
- Evergreen Bee Habitat Wall Mounted
- Wildlife World Interactive Mason Bee Management System
- Nature’s Way Bird Products CWH9 Cedar Bee House
- Mason Bee House – Bamboo Tube Bee Hotel for Solitary Bees
- SKOOLIX Outdoor Garden Bee House and Insect Home
- Welliver Outdoors Standard Mason Bee House
- Welliver Outdoors Mason Bee House
- Solitary Mason / Pollen Bee House
- Esschert Design WA02 Bee House
- 12” Hanging Wooden Bee Hive House
1. Niteangel Natural Wooden Hotel Bee Bug House
The Niteangel Natural Bee House sports a unique design in the form of a cute little house, perfect for beekeepers who want a bit more character out of their bee houses. The double slanting roof is a nice piece of craftsmanship that adequately protects the area where the bees and other insects will stay.
Largely made out of wood, the Niteangel Hotel can provide shelter to a variety of insects, bugs, and bees, but the main species of bees that would suit this house is the Mason bee, not the honeybee.
In addition, the house is made to be weather resistant, especially for those cold winter months, offering vital insulation to any bees and insects within.
One drawback is that this bee house may be a little small for some beekeepers, meaning that the design is not suitable for any commercial ventures, as the double slanting roof is not friendly to the harvesting of cocoons. However, for the price, the Niteangel Hotel is a fantastic and quirky little bee house.
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Gardener’s Supply Company Mason Bee House
The Gardener’s Supply Company Bee House is an excellent little bee house with some nifty features. Made of lightweight and durable natural bamboo, the Gardener’s Bee House can withstand sudden drops in temperature and hold out against harsh environmental conditions.
The unique, teardrop design prevents water from running down inside the interior of the walls, giving the mason bees ample dry space to thrive. It also includes an easy-to-mount metal hanger which allows for convenient positioning within easy reach of your garden.
One thing you have to make sure of while assembling is that the tubes are snug and securely fitted together to prevent them from falling out.
Overall, for the price, the Gardeners Supply Company Mason Bee House is an excellent addition that will help both the mason bees and your garden flourish.
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Evergreen Bee Habitat Wall Mounted
The Evergreen Be Habitat has a convenient wall-mounted design that will adequately provide bee populations with a safe habitat for nesting and laying eggs. Crafted from FSC certified wood, this bee house is sealed with a non-toxic, water-based finish developed to mimic the insect holes and woodpecker drillings which naturally draw bees.
For optimal conditions, this bee house should hang 5 to 7 feet off the ground on a wall that receives morning sunlight and is close to native plants and flowers.
The Evergreen Bee Habitat will protect any bee population from predators and harsh weather conditions, and also, over time, will help the bees to increase vegetable, fruit, and garden yields.
For the price, this bee house may not be the best for commercial ventures, but it’s a fantastic addition to the ecosystem of any garden.
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Wildlife World Interactive Mason Bee Management System
The Wildlife World Interactive Mason Bee House is a custom-made house that is suitable for not only mason bees, but leaf-cutter and other solitary bees as well. The house is entirely made of FSC certified timber that is sustainable. With the addition of a metal plate to form the ridge of the roof, the Wildlife World bee house is extremely durable.
Featuring a metal hanger for convenient hanging, this bee house should be placed in a location that is sheltered from rain, strong winds, and direct sunlight.
This bee house also includes extraction trays to allow for quick and easy inspections and enables the harvesting of mason bee cocoons.
Even though some users have reported the hook being too small for a truly secure fit, it’s hard to argue against the number of features included for its affordable price.
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Nature’s Way Bird Products CWH9 Cedar Bee House
The Nature’s Way Cedar Bee House is a natural way to maintain and improve the health of the plants in your yard, landscape, or garden. This, in turn, increases the overall bloom of flora and provides a home for solitary bees and insects.
The multi-chamber design is naturally attractive to the largest variety of insects. This provides a kind of pest management system, since predatory insects, such as lacewings and ladybugs, will be drawn to the bee house, helping to reduce plant damage from pests like aphids and caterpillars.
The house is developed with rot-resistant premium cedar wood and also features a convenient easy-to-mount hanger. The Nature’s Way Cedar Bee House also sports an easy-clean chamber that allows users to clean out any unwanted pests and customize the chamber contents.
This bee house is a prosperous addition to any garden, especially for the price.
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Mason Bee House – Bamboo Tube Bee Hotel for Solitary Bees
This Bamboo Bee House may suggest it’s only for mason bees, but in actual fact, it’s designed especially for 140 solitary bee species, including mason bees and orchard bees.
With 75 tubes of varying diameters, the 4-inch depth provides ample space for each pollinator to lay their eggs and for the larva to mature.
The exterior is handcrafted from FSC certified pine wood while the tubes are cut from durable bamboo which makes this bee house both bee-friendly and environmentally friendly. Rated to last for 1-2 seasons, it provides a lasting habitat with minimal upkeep.
Overall, this Cestari Bee House is an excellent choice for the savvy buyer and is more than a decorative addition to your garden.
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SKOOLIX Outdoor Garden Bee House and Insect Home
Designed from high quality, lightweight, natural bamboo, the SKOOLIX Bee House takes the shape of a unique raindrop and measures 4 x 10 x 6 inches, weighing 2 pounds.
Perfect for any yard or garden, the bee house includes a 6-inch, eco-friendly rope hanger for flexibility and stability when fixed on a branch, and it averages a 2-year lifespan.
Unlike other Mason Bee House products that use commercial paper for the tubing, SKOOLIX is purely eco-friendly and uses lightweight bamboo, making it both affordable and beneficial to the environment.
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Welliver Outdoors Standard Mason Bee House
Features
Welliver Outdoors Standard Mason Bee House is the ultimate low maintenance alternative to beekeeping. Measuring 7.2 x 5.5 x 5 inches and weighing 1.5 pounds, this wooden, square house boasts a neat, compact arrangement of paper tubes, matching the ideal specifications of a Mason bee; so, the female bees can lay eggs from March to August. We recommend that you replace these Welliver tubes after a season of use to help prevent mite infestations in the colony. This design is not freestanding and will require suspension from a branch or beam in your garden.
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Welliver Outdoors Mason Bee House
Similar to the Standard Mason Bee House, this Welliver’s design measures 8 x 7.5 x 7.5 inches and weighs 2.3 pounds. With a house-shape design, this wooden box has the added protection of a slanted triangular roof against rain, wind, and snow.
The 100 compact paper tubes each measure 6 inches long with a 5/16″ diameter to closely resemble pre-made cavities like Woodpecker holes, which Mason bees prefer to nest in, making this house ideal to increase the population of bees and overall bloom of your garden.
Like other Welliver designs, this bee house is not freestanding and will require suspension from a branch or beam in your garden.
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Solitary Mason / Pollen Bee House
This Solitary Mason Bee House is an ultra-lightweight (only 9.6 ounces), scientifically designed nest with safeguard features to produce up to 150 bees in a single season.
Made of recycled styrene and insulated by volcanic rock, this nest protects the eggs, larvae, or bees within its 20 cardboard nesting tubes from heat, cold, moisture, and the threat of rodents and birds.
Safe and easy to install, this reuseable nest measures 5.4 x 5.2 x 4.6 inches and is colored purple to attract native Mason bees.
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Esschert Design WA02 Bee House
Manufactured in China, the Esschert Design’s WA02 Bee House provides a safe wooden haven for bees. Constructed with a wood frame, bamboo tubing, and a resilient tin roof, this Mason Bee House measures 6 x 5 x 7.9 inches and has a combined weight of 1.5 pounds.
The tall, narrow, house-like shape boasts multiple bamboo tubes that vary from 1/8 inch to 3/8 inch in internal diameters and a sturdy, metal loop chain for easy suspension on a branch or beam.
It also features a light green finish to provide the perfect visual complement to your garden and the perfect home for your Mason bees.
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Topadorn Hanging Wooden Bee Hive House
This 12” Hanging Wooden Bee Hive House from Topadorn is standard but still offers unique features to provide shelter and a safe environment to native pollinator bees. Designed with a compact structure for convenience, the exterior housing is made from Pine, and the interior tubes are made from bamboo.
These materials work together to offer durable and weather-resistant housing against rain and strong winds, though it is recommended to keep the bee house under shelter and out of direct sunlight.
Overall, this wooden bee house will help to grow a native bee population and help improve the yield of any plants, vegetables, or flowers in your garden. With an affordable price and a 1-year warranty, this bee house is a savvy purchase for any beginner beekeeper.
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The Verdict
Bees are the most prolific pollinators on Earth with a single bee involved in thousands of blooms every day. It is important to support their dwindling population by protecting their natural habitat and providing them with additional homes in our gardens! So, these have been our top 12 picks for the best Mason Bee House designs on the market at the moment.
After the careful review of their features, cost, and benefits to the bees and the environment, we found the SKOOLIX Outdoor Garden Bee House and Insect Home to be a standout from the rest! Designed from high quality, lightweight, natural bamboo, this raindrop bee house is affordable, eco-friendly, and averages a 2-year lifespan.
Its 6-inch, eco-friendly rope enables you to secure the house to any branch or beam in your backyard, making installation incredibly fast and easy. Overall, the flexibility, durability, and sustainability of this bee house are what sets it apart from others on the market!
The SKOOLIX design is an ideal Mason Bee House to increase the population of bees in your garden!
We hoped this has helped you with your search for the best Mason Bee House! Should you have any further questions or want to know more about Mason bees or other accessories to improve the overall health and appearance of your garden, reach out to the specialists online at Bee Keep Buzz.
Last update on 2021-04-19 / Affiliate links / Images from Amazon Product Advertising API