To the left of the bee house mentioned above is my first attempt to make a bee house with plate type galleries. The housing was thrifted. I think it was some type of CD holder. I paid $8 I think.
I'm no master carpenter. I'm also using scrap from a variety of sources. So I've learned a few things.
I wouldn't use thicker wood and double side them for the plates. The reason is that many pieces might be cupped or bowed and not sit flush when you add them to many plates. Since I was free-handing, I couldn't make the plates fit groove to groove like in commercial plates. Thus, I had to make thin dividers...also adding to probability of poor fit. I finally got it to fit, though there are still some issues. We'll see over time. I would only make grooves in one side from this point on. It saves on having to split wood and make dividers and having to tweak them (and taking a LOT of time).
The placement may have to be tweaked. Some say it has to be within a narrow height off of the ground. I can tell you that might be an optimum, but isn't necessary. My structures are 132-year old brick and I've seen mason bees stocking holes in brick and mortar all the way up the walls to under third floor eaves. They should eventually find them. These are on a covered porch about 10-12 feet off of the ground and back under cover. They face the direction most of our inclement weather comes from so in rain with really high winds, it's possible for them to get damp. It's an experiment so we'll see how it works out. They are in about the most protected area I currently have though.
