How To Make a Bee Hotel
Posted on December 17 2025
Lately I’ve noticed fewer bees buzzing around the garden, and it’s honestly a little worrying. Bees play such a crucial role in keeping our gardens, orchards, and wider ecosystems thriving. Without them, many of our favourite fruits, vegetables, and flowering plants simply wouldn’t grow.
New Zealand has 28 species of native bees, and unlike honeybees, most of them are solitary. They don’t live in hives, and they don’t make honey, instead, they quietly go about pollinating our native trees, garden flowers, and vegetables. These little pollinating heroes need places to nest safely and easy access to fresh water, especially during dry summer months.
To help them out try making this eco-friendly Bee Hotel. It's a fun project to make over the holidays with the kids and very beneficial for local biodiversity.
How to Make a Native Bee Hotel
This design is perfect for NZ solitary bees like Leioproctus, Lasioglossum, and Hylaeus.
You’ll Need:
• A clean tin can, wooden box, or short length of bamboo
• Hollow stems (flax flower stalks, bamboo, or dry stems like raspberry or bramble)
• A small pruning saw or secateurs
• Kraft paper or cardboard (optional)
• Natural string (optional)
How to Make It:
Prepare the container.
A tin can is perfect — remove the label and make sure the edges aren’t sharp. A piece of untreated wood with a hollow centre or bamboo also works well. Or even better a wooden box.
Cut your stems.
Use secateurs to cut hollow stems into lengths the same depth as your container. Aim for 10–15cm long.
Check the holes.
Native bees like holes between 3–8 mm wide. Make sure the stems are clean and open at one end.
Pack the stems tightly.
This is important — the stems should fit snugly without wobbling. Bees prefer stable nesting tunnels.
Place it in the right spot.
Hang or position your bee hotel:
• facing morning sun
• protected from rain
• about 1–1.5 metres above the ground
• close to flowering plants
Once in place, let nature do the rest. Native bees will check it out in early spring through summer.