I wonder if wasps go in the George P one! I'd like one but dont think I have the space, or the money. @LeadFarmer I can't help being scared of the wasps; I try to tell myself they're just the same as bees, not intentionally going round stinging people but it's just ingrained. One will fly out of the house and I'll run across the garden 😂.
@Crazybeelady George P's box has the same shaped nesting cavities, so yes, anything can get in that is the same size as a bee. Wasps are part of the process.
I intend to make my own nest boxes, it just seems to be a case of cutting 8mm channels in pieces of wood, and clamping them together, but without the plastic viewing window. Should be easy to make.
I feel like there's a very thin line between a wasp fitting and not fitting, so I might look for something with slightly smaller holes.
Micro bees will nest in narrow channels, so you could drill narrow guage holes in logs and see what happens. My Schewlger bee block has tiny holes and they are filled each year. Mind you, there are tiny parasitic wasps too. Lol.
As noted often on this thread, there is much contention as to whether bee nesting homes that we put up need to be cleaned out or not. The brick above is not really cleanable. Nor are drilled logs.
I do like a cleanable bee house! I've got some absolutely tiny bees out the front, I think they're some kind of miner as there are some little holes about. I might just put up another house well away from the waspy one, I doubt I can win whatever I try and do! I had a bumblebee trying to squidge into one last year!
I bought a G Pilkington bumble bee nest box last year, and the place in the garden I want to site it isn't prepared yet. I keep seeing bumble bees buzzing around the wood store so rather than leave it boxed up in the shed I've cleared a space in the wood store for it. I know they should be placed at ground level but for now it's better than being boxed up I the shed.
It'll probably start getting used as it's not where you planned to site it! I had a rubbish year last year for Mason cocoons so only had a few, but three hatched out today so that was nice. Didn't see it happen though.
With an array of different nest boxes, old and new, it will be interesting to see, as a trial, which ones are more popular.
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I guess the below is an good example of why it's good to be able to a) see what's going on inside a box and b) be able to remove the cocoons. I missed the timing for cleaning out the George P box as the cocoons started to hatch early in March. So I just put the whole box outside as was. The front of the box is on the right. With this channel pictured it seems that the cocoon on the far left didn't hatch before new a new female moved into to lay this year's brood. So last year's male (assuming it's viable) will now be boxed in with no way of escape. Somewhat brutal. I guess this is what would happen in the wild - in a tree cavity.
You can see the damp mud sealing in the newly gathered pollen, onto which eggs have just been laid.
The second George box is sited below, and others types are avaiable, so it's not like there was an obvious housing crisis.
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Below are bees investigating the new George P box. Bees often like to snooze in those boxes - warm and safe. I would guess that one is a male and one a female, from the size difference. The first George box will be smothered in bee pheromones The new box, not yet.
The only reason I get to observe any of this behaviour is because of the perspex panes.
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@LeadFarmer I can't help being scared of the wasps; I try to tell myself they're just the same as bees, not intentionally going round stinging people but it's just ingrained. One will fly out of the house and I'll run across the garden 😂.
I had a rubbish year last year for Mason cocoons so only had a few, but three hatched out today so that was nice. Didn't see it happen though.