With great anticipation you have hung a nesting box in your own garden and are now hoping to meet a resident soon. Of course the house is intended for birds. If the nesting box is still empty after a long time or a bird only lives in it temporarily, bumblebees could be the cause. Read what you need to know about the insects here.
How can bumblebees be settled in the nesting box?
Bumblebees in nest boxes can be problematic as they drive away birds and take away natural breeding sites. To settle bumblebees, build special bumblebee nesting boxes with different sizes, a curved roof, newspaper and filling material such as hay, moss or upholstery wool.
Bumblebees in the nesting box?
A nesting box not only serves as a breeding place, but also offers many animals an ideal winter quarters to protect them from cold and precipitation. This applies not only to birds but also to numerous small animals such as squirrels and insects. Therefore, it is not surprising if you suddenly find bumblebees in your nesting box instead of the guests you wanted.
Why bumblebees are problematic in the nesting box
Due to the enormous expansion of humans, many birds are losing their natural breeding grounds. Nesting boxes still offer protection and are therefore gratefully accepted. With a nesting box you make a big contribution to bird protection. It is all the more annoying when bumblebees take up space for the animals. However, animal rights activists have found through experiments that the consequences of a nesting box occupied by bumblebees are far more serious. The animals do not just turn out to be beneficiaries, as previously assumed, but rather drive away birds with their humming. This can lead to parents leaving the nest box early and their young starving.
Settle bumblebees consciously
However, bumblebees are also useful animals that are an integral part of a functioning ecosystem. Maybe you would like to consciously keep bumblebees in your garden. There are also special Hummel nesting boxes (€49.00 on Amazon) that you can easily build yourself. Here are some tips:
- offer nesting boxes of different sizes, as the number of animals within a colony varies greatly
- a curved roof drains rainwater better
- spread newspaper on the ground to make it easier to remove the nest later
- fill your nesting box with hay, moss or upholstery wool
