Folks, we are going live with these bee hotels in 10 days time and are looking for ideas to scale up deployment across metros.
We are currently looking at selling via our website only. We are also speaking to a toys company to partner with us to make DIY flatpackable boxes for kids (May be ready around Sep mid). But need help on creating an out reach for this
What are Bee Hotels?
These are artificial homes for solitary bees. Solitary bees are 99% of all species of bees in India. They don’t produce honey, they don’t sting, they live alone and contribute massively to cross pollination. Lentils, Tomatoes and a large chunk of the green cover and flowering plants in cities is thanks to them.
Why bee hotels?
All the mass urbanisation is hurting their habitat. They usually live in cracks on trees/barks - and when you looks at places like BKC, Whitefield, CyberCity, you realise the extent of the problem we are staring at.
Probability of success
Donno. Because other factors are air pollution and climate change. But they’re a chance that if untouched (after deployment), they may become homes to these bees. This experiment has worked in places in the US, UK and even WWF UK supports this on their website
Where can we deploy these?
Balcony, Gardens, Parks, outside Malls, on top of Bus stands, on commercial buildings
Hi @nitinvishwas, I’m just curious to know how did you or your team identify this problem, and who started this bee hotels project, I assume it is you, and how you people recognized it in the first place, it shows a very sensitive side of a person, I’m just curious to know how it is all started and what led you to take action, which is a good thing really appreciated, I think we might call them Bee HOMES because the pictures are very cute they remind me a home sort of build by kids out of pure passion, very interesting, and after all bees can’t afford to pay hotels , if it is Bee HOMES they might felt it very homely while staying . thank you for sharing the cutest thing.
to place in Hyderabad metros we would love to help. I think parks are very peaceful places to place these hotels in my view.
if possible please share the journey of this project or the person behind this bee hotels, happy to read and share.
Our beekeeper was the first person to actually highlight the issue.
We keep bees ourselves, and a lot of attention is usually given to honeybees and solitary bees don’t get too much attention - mainly because there’s no direct economic benefit from helping in their habitation.
And so we felt that we can’t be responsible towards just one kind of bee. All bees need attention.
Good suggestion on the name!
We’d chosen hotel because it has a better ring to it.
Another option was - AirBee&Bee (which personally, I love)
But we wanted to be explicit about the purpose of these structures, and we weren’t sure if AirBee&Bee would be very clear in that aspect.
Thank you for sharing @RohanRehani! feels good to know about the beekeeper, got to know these solitary bees are not harmful to pets and humans, do any farmers or anyone keeps them like pets anywhere in the world? just a curious question, why can’t solitary bees survive themselves? or is it for our good we are keeping them near our neighborhood?
Solitary bees in the ecosystem
Solitary bees are easily overlooked, but they are known to pollinate plants more efficiently than honey bees.
They provide an essential ecosystem service, pollinating our crops and ensuring that plant communities are healthy and productive. Without them, mammals and birds would not have the seeds, berries, or plants on which they depend; in fact, approximately one in three mouthfuls of food and drink require pollination.
fascinating to know how few species’ lives are interconnected and interdepended to survive each other’s in nature’s circular economy. Are there any R&D studies or videos to know more about these interconnected methods? if anyone finds anything please share in this thread.
Thank you.
@VenkatLifeX Solitary bees survive well in nature!
As @nitinvishwas said in his original post - All the mass urbanisation is hurting their habitat. They usually live in cracks on trees/barks - and when you looks at places like BKC, Whitefield, CyberCity, you realise the extent of the problem we are staring at.
do any farmers or anyone keeps them like pets anywhere in the world? just a curious question, why can’t solitary bees survive themselves? or is it for our good we are keeping them near our neighborhood?
We at SayTrees have created multiple (70+) quasi-natural forests using Miyawaki method in several metros (including Delhi NCR, Bengaluru, Mumbai, Pune and Chennai, among others)
We are keen to explore the possibility of a pilot intervention where the Miyawaki forests could host these bees and play a crucial role in enhancing the ecosystem services from these green patches.
, if it is Bee HOMES they might felt it very homely while staying 
. thank you for sharing the cutest thing.
This is a really interesting concept.