About Our Leafcutter Bees And bee houses

  When we decided we needed to sell bee houses to compliment our bee cocoon products, our neighbors, the Loerzel Brothers, came immediately to mind. They are famous in the area for building quality human homes, including our beloved house. So, we went over to talk to them to get their thoughts.

  They already had been building our large leafcutter bee reproduction shelters for us for the past several years, so they had an idea of what we would need to build garden size bee houses. I explained to them that most of the bee houses offered in the big box stores were made overseas and of dubious quality. But I also mentioned, price wise, it would be hard to compete with the foreign competition, especially if we built out of high-quality cedar.

  I described the ideal houses for compatibility with the different formats of bee cocoons we offer. I can tell when I have sparked Scott and Mark’s interest by the nodding of their heads as they contemplate the problem needing a solution. They’re not big talkers but are always thinking. They asked me to give them a week to think about it and build a couple of prototypes.

  A few days later they stopped by our house with smiles and two houses: the hexagonal BeeHut, which is compatible with our cocoons in tubes format and the Tower Bee House, which can work with either the bees in block format or the loose cell format. They said they had ideas on how to build quality bee houses at affordable prices but needed another week.

  A few days later, Scott called and said he thought they had it figured out. They had built a computerized robotic router, from a kit offered by Maslow, which cut the cedar pieces automatically and they could concentrate on bonding the pieces with glue and nails in every junction. The final products are highly finished and built to last. And prices are competitive with the foreign competition. American ingenuity at work!

  This past year I became aware some of our customers were having trouble with birds dragging the cocoons and sometimes the entire box out of the attic of their Tower Bee House. I asked the guys if there was some way we could put a door on the attic with a hole in it to offer protection to the cocoons but allow the bees to leave the house as they emerged. I was concerned there was no way to accomplish the need without a big increase in cost.

  My fears were unfounded. Within a week they had come up with an ingenious solution: they programed the robotic router to cut pieces for a slide out gable end in the house with a hole. It completely solves the problem at exceptionally low cost.

  I knew they were on a roll, so I asked if they could make a simple bee house compatible with our cocoons in block format for people who wanted something quick and easy to put up. Sure enough, a couple of days later they came by with the prototype of the BeeShed. It’s designed for busy people who still want our friendly bees to help pollinate their garden!