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Clayton's Winter-Ready Cedar Bee Hotel
Clayton's Winter-Ready Cedar Bee Hotel
Dispatched within 2–3 business days
30-day satisfaction guarantee
Free tracked shipping across the U.S.
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Clayton's Winter-Ready Cedar Bee Hotel
Built for the Ten Months Nobody Sees — Solid Cedar, Copper Ridge, Hand-Built in the Blue Ridge
Clayton Dawson, 74, Brevard, North Carolina. Forty-three years refining one thing: a nesting box wild bees will actually move into. He is laying down his tools for good. This is the final production run.
“People buy bee hotels for the summer. The mason bees need them for the winter. In winter they can’t help themselves. The only thing between them and the weather is the wood I cut.”
— Clayton Dawson, Brevard, North Carolina
What Arrives
Six Things That Decide Whether the Bees Make It Through the Winter
“I have taken apart a lot of failed bee hotels and the failures repeat: holes drilled far too wide for the species that are actually local, tunnels shallower than four inches so the whole nest sits in the predation zone, splintered bores, treated lumber, and an open back that lets parasitic wasps walk straight in. Untreated solid timber, hand-dressed tunnels graded small, depth over four inches, and a sealed rear panel deal with every one of those. That is the specification. It is not complicated. It is just rarely done.”
— Dr. Ellen Marsh, invertebrate conservation ecologist
Suits
Why It Lasts
- Untreated solid cedar, 3/4 inch. Not plywood, not a laminate, not treated lumber. The same timber used in boatbuilding for a century, for the same reason.
- A copper ridge, not plastic. Plastic roofs crack in the first hard freeze. Copper outlasts the box it sits on.
- Hand-dressed tunnels. Every bore is smoothed by hand before the box leaves the bench. A rough tunnel is a tunnel no bee uses twice.
- Sealed rear panel. Parasitic wasps cannot reach the brood from behind, which is where populated hotels usually fail.
- Documented occupancy since 2003. One of Clayton’s hotels has been full every season on the same south-facing orchard wall for twenty-three years.
30-Day Satisfaction Guarantee
Hang it up and see what turns up. If it is not right for any reason at all, send it back within 30 days for a full refund — no conditions, no questions, no hassle. Just email info@backroad-goods.com.
Details
| Material | Solid untreated western red cedar, 3/4 in wall on every face |
| Roof | Solid cedar gable roof with a hand-folded copper ridge, develops natural patina |
| Dimensions | Approx. 8 × 7 × 8 in (20 × 18 × 20 cm) |
| Tunnel diameters | 3/32 in to 3/8 in, graded across the face |
| Tunnel finish | Hand-dressed mirror finish, no standing fibres |
| Rear panel | Sealed solid cedar, parasite-proof |
| Mounting | Flush-set heavy-gauge steel hook — hang, screw flat, or free-stand |
| Suits | Mason bees, leafcutter bees, small carpenter bees, mining bees |
| Siting | South or south-east, approx. 5 ft up, morning sun, afternoon shade |
| Care | Leave outside year-round. Do not bring indoors over winter. |
| Made in | Brevard, North Carolina — Blue Ridge Mountains, by hand since 1983 |
| Availability | Final production run from Clayton’s workshop. No restock, no successor. |
The Final Winter
The Final Winter
A note from the workshop:
Clayton Dawson has built homes for mason bees in a 400-square-foot workshop in Brevard, North Carolina, since 1983. A mason bee flies for only about four weeks in spring. The other ten months it lives inside the tunnel: as an egg, as a young bee, and through the whole winter, asleep in its cocoon. It cannot move when the wood gets wet. That is why Clayton builds every hotel for the winter first.
The arthritis in his wrists no longer allows the fine work inside the tunnels. This winter is his last at the bench. When the shelves are empty, there will be no second run.
“People buy bee hotels for the summer. The mason bees need them for the winter.” — Clayton Dawson
Shipping & Dimensions
Shipping & Dimensions
Free tracked shipping across the U.S.
- Dispatched within 2–3 business days
- Approx. 8 × 7 × 8 in (20 × 18 × 20 cm), 3/4 in solid untreated cedar on every face
- Cedar gable roof with a hand-folded copper ridge, solid sealed back
- Hang it now, in winter: it weathers in and is ready when mason bees look for a nest in spring
- Leave it outside all year. Never bring it into a warm garage over winter.
Frequently Asked Questions
Got a question? Here’s how to reach us.
Got a question? Here’s how to reach us.
Email us any time at info@craft-folk.com. We answer Monday to Friday 9am–5pm and Saturday mornings 10am–1pm (Eastern Time). Every order is packed by Clayton’s granddaughter Sarah, so if you need something changed before it goes out, just say so.
Can I return it if it’s not for me?
Can I return it if it’s not for me?
Of course. 30-day satisfaction guarantee. Hang it up, and if it isn’t right for you, email info@craft-folk.com within 30 days for a full refund. No conditions, no questions.
How is it made — and why does that matter here?
How is it made — and why does that matter here?
Clayton cuts, notches and hand-smooths every hotel himself in a 400-square-foot workshop in Brevard, North Carolina. Solid untreated cedar, 3/4 in on every face, a cedar gable roof with a hand-folded copper ridge and a solid sealed back. Every detail is there for the ten months the mason bees spend inside, most of all the winter.