Wild honey bee nests

Wild honey bees typically nest in hollow trees, but they can also build nests in other natural cavities like rock crevices, under a canopy, and sometimes in man-made structures like building cavities or attics.

 

Nest boxes

Most garden nest boxes are far too small for honey bees. If you see bees in your garden nest box, they will very likely be Tree Bumble Bees (Bombus hypnorum)

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This honey bee nest is in a large owl nest box

 When we opened the nest box inspection door we could see lots of comb filled with honey. See how the bees have carefully left a gap between each piece of comb so that they can access the honey and larvae which are raised in the beeswax comb.

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Propolis

In the bottom picture you can see how the bees have constructed a 'wall' of propolis to reduce the size of the entrance hole - to make it 'bee size'. By doing this, they keep out the rain and wind and are able to stop predators such as wasps raiding the nest