Mason Bee's Breeding

The Stalker....

It was such I nice morning that I went out early and took a look the the bee houses. I noticed in front of me a "couple" mating. It was quite a site and I have not ever seen a picture of this event. Thinking I was witness to a rare sight, I grabbed my camera and snapped a couple of pictures. Now don't get me wrong, I am not a stalker or wacko, I just was happy to see nature at work and to know I would have some more cocoons for next year.

I also got a couple of pictures of some females flying in and out of the tubes. I was fun to sit there and have them buzz past me and not really pay any mind to me.

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 Note the female in the upper right hand corner of the house. After a few hours, this tube was full! That means she laid 5 -8 cocoons. I am so happy. 

The girls love to dig in the sunshine

Some new pictures of the girls in the garden. They love to dig in the garden and have the warm sun on their backs.

Joan.....

Bonnie girl....

Annie.....

Cocoons hatching!!!

Two new Mason Bees emerge!

I had some cocoons that had not hatched out from my order. I took them out and left them in the sun. Within 20 minutes of sunning them,  I noted they were moving and two of the female eggs started to emerge. It took about 10 minutes and we had 2 more females in the yard. What a site!

First there was one........

Then two........

Almost there........

She is out and ready to eat!

Bzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzzz

Bee's in the trees

Wow - walked out the door over the weekend and heard the strangest sound. There was a low humming sound that I could not make out. I looked up into my tree and saw the greatest number of bee's I have ever seen enjoying the blossoms. It was quite a sight. I ran into the house and was lucky enough to get the video below. Speakers up and listen.

More Mason bee's

Adding more bees. I found a guy on Craigslist that was selling his Mason bee's in the log for $1 per mudd'ed hole. That is a great deal as each hole has 5-8 bees so that 95-150 bees at a cost of about $.16 per bee!

I set it next to my existing bee house and once they all hatch I will remove the log. I cant wait to see all the new bees. I need them to get to work in the gardens.

A new fire station - Buckley WA.

We were invited by the chief to attend the opening of the new fire station in Buckley WA. My son is a volunteer Firefighter / EMT and lives at the station. It was a big event as the last station was founded over 60 years ago! The mayor, several fire departments, the Buckley Police and many citizens attended. The station was dedicated to the citizens of Buckley and to everyone surprise the chief, Alan Predmore! You could see he was very surprised and honored. It was much deserved as he has worked tireless for many, many years to see this station through. Good on you Chief Predmore.

 There were some short speeches by the fire chief and the Mayor.

The "ribbon" cutting was a actually an uncoupling of a ceremonial hose.

That is it. Come on in and see the new station.

A busy weekend!

WOW - we just had one of those super sunny weekends that makes 5 months of rain worth it. I even got some sunburn...but most of all we got a huge jump on the garden and accomplished many tasks.

I worked on getting all the seedlings planted and ready to go into my new portable hot house.

Things got a bit messy but it got done!

My new hot house has so much room I am going to help the neighbors out and keep their starts too.

As you can see I am only using about half the space. This thing is sturdy and keeps a nice hot, humid environment for the seedlings. I hope to see some little plants cropping up in a week or so.

Sunny afternoon flowers

So there has been some sun here the PNW (Pacific North West) and my flowers are starting to pop out. I took some time to grab a few shots of some of them.

Mason Bee's for spring!

One of my spring "to do" is to add Mason Bee's to my garden. I have done a bunch of reading on the subject and it is quite easy to have and manage Mason bees. The orchard mason bee (Osmia lignaria) is a gentle beneficial insect that is a pollinator of apples, cherries, and other tree fruits. It is found throughout most of North America, particularly in wooded areas but often around homes in towns and cities. The orchard mason bee is usually slightly smaller than a honey bee and a shiny dark blue in color. You may have seen them and thought they were flies. Males are smaller than females, have longer antennae and an additional tuft of light colored hairs on the face. Females have hairs on the underside of the abdomen, called the "scopa", adapted for carrying pollen. The orchard mason bee is non-aggressive and will sting only if handled roughly.  Due to the dwindling population of the honey bee, we must support this important pollination bee. In the future, I hope to build a "Top Bar" hive for honey bees. But for now I will work on developing my Mason Bee for many future seasons.

Go to the site below. Crown Bees is located in Woodinville, WA. They are a super source for info and help. You can buy bees and all materials to get started. There is also a lot of free learning material to use.

 www.crownbees.com 

Here is the box of bees I received from Crown Bees - 10 males/10 females.The female cocoons are bigger than the males and hatch later in the season.

Here is the Mason bee house I built out of a left over piece of fence board. There are dozens of other styles including "bee blocks". If you have a garden, a sunny spot the faces SE (for morning sun) and plants, trees, flowers near by, get yourself some bees! I added in the purchased tubes for the females to make the cocoons in. That way I can harvest the cocoons in the fall and have my bees for next year. I added some straw/sticks for depth perception and a bee "scent" attractant. ** Note the box of bees in the chamber above. I have had them in the fridge for about 3 months. I hope they come out soon. More later on this.......come on out little friends and join my garden!

Treasure from the coop - the best thing to come home to is a nest of fresh eggs.

After they have completed their work for the day,  the girls like to have a rest and a dirt bath in the garden. This a fun activity to watch.

So for those of you that always wanted to know, here is a useful "chicken part chart'.... yes there is a difference between the Ear Lobes and Wattles.... I can email it to you if you ask.

Hey everyone. I am getting the hang of this blogging thing. I have changed the look of the site and welcome your input too. How am I doing?
I thought you might like the site below. This site helped me determine what breed to chicken I wanted. My personal preferences were that they had to be easy to keep, well adaptable to confinement or free range; calm and docile. I did not want to many challenges right away. There is also many good links and information to use. Let me know what you think. 


http://www.ithaca.edu/staff/jhenderson/chooks/chooks.html

My first post to introduce the girls in the coop.

 

Here are the 2 new girls with there new coop mate! They are already tilling my garden for the new year. Bonnie and Joan meet Annie.

Bonnie and Joan