If pleased with accommodations, bees will return from year to year
A new, exclusive hotel chain complete with butler service is opening at select sites across Canada.
These are bee hotels created in a partnership with Fairmont Hotels and Resorts, Burt’s Bees and Pollinator Canada.
The Wild for Bees partnership started in five locations last year with the first being on the rooftop of the Fairmont Royal York in Toronto.
Sixteen bee hotels have since been installed in Vancouver, Whistler, Edmonton, Winnipeg, Ottawa and Quebec City as well as 10 in public spaces in Vancouver, Calgary, Toronto and Halifax.
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Four are opening this summer at the University of Calgary community garden, where they have food and a place to nest.
“We are looking at expanding this initiative worldwide. We haven’t seen a lot in other markets,” said Kait-lynn Dodge of Fairmont.
The hotels are designed for solitary pollinator bees that need a place to lay their eggs. Honeybees and bumblebees typically work and nest in groups, while solitary bees visit flowers and nest individually without a queen or hive.
The company already has rooftop gardens and 20 apiaries for honeybees at hotels around the world. Providing habitat for these little insects was the next step.
“Bee hotels were something you could do that would create new habitat for these solitary pollinator bees that contribute, especially in urban centres,” she said.
“We have created these larger bee hotels around the country, but anybody can create a smaller bee hotel in their backyard,” she said.
Most of the hotels have bee butlers on site to check for maintenance and make sure the insects are surviving.
Educational signs are included to explain the role of bees in food production.
“Once it is built, it is something they are attracted to and find refuge to lay their eggs and create a nest,” Dodge said.
Canada has 800 types of pollinator bees, which are so unobtrusive that most people do not know they are around, said Vicki Wojcik, research director of Pollinator Partnership.
“There is actually a whole other sect of species of bees. They are solitary and live on their own,” she said.
“Some species resemble others that we consider a pest or nuisance. Sometimes you can confuse it with a hornet or a wasp.”
Thirty percent of them nest in holes found in wood, while others nest in litter on the ground.
“Honeybees are vital to agriculture, but with these other pollinating bees, it is important to know how much diversity we have. They are all important,” Wojcik said.
They lay eight to 10 eggs and many survive to adulthood. However, they can face predation from crows, jays, raccoons and skunks. Crows have been observed using a stick to open the hole and retrieve the eggs.
A bee hotel may offer a mesh covering such as chicken wire to keep out invaders.
Homeowners can provide a rudimentary hotel with sticks with holes drilled into them in which bees can lay eggs. Litter in the backyard can be turned into bee habitat.
“Some of that mess is really helpful in providing nesting habitat and having local native flowers to feed,” she said.
Bees will return to the hotel, depending on the species. Some live until the end of summer after laying eggs, while others may hibernate.
“They actually do return to that general area where they hatched from to try and build their nests,” Wojcik said. “From year to year you could have the same family or lineage of bees returning to the hotel.”
