I've cranked out a few dozen bee boards. And made the channels in two sizes. Using different sized round tip router bits I spaced the channels out as small as possible without taking out the wall of the next channel.
Since these are the first boards I've built for the Mason and Leafcutter bees I need to see if any bees take to them. It's hard to say which size holes they will prefer, and if they are okay with crescent shaped holes or really need full circles to lay their larva in.
I may need to make channels on both sides of the boards. Which would complete the crescent shapes into circles. So I may make some more double sided channeled boards so they are an option for the bees when they come around. I'd rather do single sides to keep the bee boards stronger. But seems most designs are double sided with channels.
If they like the smaller channels I think I'll stick to those as I can fit many more smaller channels in one board rather than using the larger channels.
I guess I did space out the larger channels more, just felt like the larger bit has a chance of breaking open a channel than the small ones. I'll work on doing these with less space using templates. So maybe I can get each channel exactly the right amount of space between them.
It's real dusty and sometimes smoky, so I wear a face mask, ear protection and glasses. But I still get covered in sawdust.
Still got more to make, and maybe I'll find the bees preferences this year, and I hope my bamboo homes and 2x4 homes worked and next spring should be filled with bees.
Speaking of the bamboo bee homes. I try to air out their big plastic box I'm keeping them in once a month. Though not even sure they need me to be doing that for them.
