Daily Archives: May 9, 2011
This is a question I have been asked several times- How to help mason bees find their nest.
In nature, mason bees do not have this problem since one nest is on a post next to the wood pile and another nest might be in a wall of a shed. But when many nests are right next to many other nesting holes bees often have a problem of returning and finding their ‘home’.
You may wonder what a ‘lost bee’ looks like. The bee acts ‘lost’. It flies into one nesting hole, immediately flies out and goes into another nesting hole. This continues for several minutes. This searching behaviour is a waste of time. When a simple design has been added to the nest, it takes only about 30 minutes before the bee goes directly to her nest with no searching whatsoever.
All you need is some acrylic paints.
The trick is to provide a simple design, and not a complex design that it does not help the bee at all.
I will now go to work and create some simple designs on nests that will help mason bees find their home.
More later.
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| Petri dish for storing 100-200 cocoons |
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| A stack of petri dishes filled with cocoons are placed inside this fridge for storage. Cocoons are then placed into release houses ready for release. |
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| This is the freezer compartment in a manual-defrost type fridge. The stack of petri dishes are just below this compartment. Use a thermometer to let you know when temperatures are too warm or too cold. |
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| A container filled with water ensures a greater than 60% humidity. |
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| Release houses filled with 100 cocoons are held in the fridge, prior to releasing into the D27 yurt. The cardboard straw temporarily plugs up the front entrance of the Starter Cottage. |
Under certain circumstances, it is handy to have a container into which you can place escapee mason bees.
These escapees are mason bees that have emerged inside the house and are buzzing around in the basement or in kitchen. Not that they are going to do any harm, but it is nice to be able to set them outside so they can go about their business. This handy little gadget can easily be made by anyone. It requires a pop bottle and a pair of scissors.
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| Find a pop bottle. |
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| Cut pop bottle into half with a utility knife of a pair of scissors. |
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| Invert the top into the bottom. Make sure that the ‘top’ of the bottle is about 1″ above the base of the bottle. |
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| Mason Bee catcher ready for use. |
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| Add any escapees into the Catcher, and release them outside. |
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| If the bee is very active, slow it down by setting it into a fridge for about 30 mins and then release. |
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| A happy bee that has just been released. |
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| The opening in the roof of the D27 yurt is used by mason bees that are exiting the yurt and is for venting any excess heat during the summer months. |
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| D27 yurt is ready for spring. The silver colour of the tarp is on the outside. The blue colour of the tarp faces the inside. Two posts protect it from severe winds. |
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| A row of Highrises are attached at the roof line. This is the warmest position inside the D27 yurt. Release houses with cocoons sit on top of Highrise homes. |
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| Temperature at roof line is 85+F |
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| Outside (N) temperature of 64F |
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| Temperature one foot down from roof line is 76F |
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| Temperature 2 feet down from roof line is 71F.
The increase in warmth of the D27 YURT can only be a boon to mason bee production |
