Portable nest shelter and stand

Nesting blocks for managed megachilid bees (e.g. Osmia, Megachile) often need to be grouped for the sheer numbers of nesting bees needed for pollination or population increase. Multiple blocks can be placed in a shelter, such as this mail tote, which has the advantages of being light weight and its tapered sides allowing for stacking during storage and transport. A shelter needs a stand, which again, should be sturdy, lightweight, portable and affordable. Byron Love, Lars Milling and I developed such a shelter stand.

The stand consists of two 2x2” legs and cross-bars, two trapezoidal plywood gussets, a tie-down, 8 deck screws and 4 bolts and wing nuts. Both height and width could be made adjustable by drilling additional holes in the legs and crossbars. An oblique hole drilled near the ends of 2 legs can receive two spikes for firmly affixing the shelter to the ground.

Parts for 3-4 stands can be carried into the field by one person. We leave one end of each crossbar attached to its A-shaped support, and the bolt and wingnut in place on the other side. That way, no parts can be lost or left behind. No tools are needed (or risk being forgotten) for field assembly either. Thus assembled, our shelter and stand design has withstood 60 MPH wind gusts without harm. Those of you who have lugged T-posts and a post pounder (and later a post puller) into the field to deploy shelters will appreciate the advantages of this stand.