Hi everyone. Have a look at this short video of the mason bee houses. **Notice** a couple of new bees emerging from the upper left out of the hatching box. They are busy in the garden eating, breeding and making new cocoons. Enjoy.

The Mason Bee's cocoon harvest

Hello again. Well late fall is the time to take the Mason Bees out of the tubes and harvest the cocoons.I had a good supply of them. I could only show a few as I had over 80 tubes to clean out! I got about 200 cocoons when done and they are safe and sound in a special holding box in the refrigerator.

Note the mud plugs and pollen left over from some of the tubes. It is clear that there was an abundant amount of food for the bees to eat and gather.

Close up of the pollen and mud plugs.

The cocoons from a tube. The big ones are female and the smaller are male. The little strands are there waste material.

Bringing in the Bee's....

So it was time to remove the Mason Bee tubes today. I collected them from the two houses. I was very cool to see about 43 full tubes and about 14 half or partly filled tubes. I put them in a nice burlap bag I saved from an event. I will take the tubes apart in the fall and then store them in the fridge like last time until spring. My family thinks I am nuts for storing bee's in the fridge. But they are very clean and just need to be stored in a constant temperature of about 40 degrees.

About less then half of the 100+ tubes I had out were empty. I will use them next season.

 Here are some of  the full and part full tubes. The full ones are the ones that have mud all the way to the ends. The rest are part full. Each full tube could have between 5-8 cocoons in it. So over all I could have from 200 to 280 bees for next year.

In process - all houses are not cleared out. I ordered some new bees (Leaf Cutter) for the summer. I bought some smaller tubes for them too. I will post on them once they arrive.

A sad note - while cleaning out the house and tubes I found this female. She is perfect but alas thier life cycle is very short. Sorry to see her go. I will care for her off spring next season.

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.

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!