Monthly Archives: April 2012
In mid- April, a few trees were in bloom. Mostly the crabapples and other pollinizers. The yurt is in the background. We set out 1200 cocoons with 650 nesting tunnels- about 1 nesting hole per female in 9 Highrises.
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| Blooming crabapple with Yurt in background. |
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| I installed ten highrises inside this yurt for a start. The emergence shelters containing the cocoons sit on top of each highrise. Between 100-200 cocoons are in each emergence shelter. In two weeks time I will add more highrises and cocoons. |
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| I use hooks to hang Highrises on the uprights of the Yurt. |
Early spring temperatures are often cold and wet. Not great for bees. But there are periods of sun and sunny days that allow mason bees to emerge, mate, fly and start nesting. However on sunny days, the wind chill might just drop the temperature enough so that it is too cold for mason bees to be active. Having a large protective shelter for bee homes is a plus. Inside the yurt it is like a little greenhouse, with excess heat escaping through the roof.
I will be noting the temperature over the next couple of weeks to show how the yurt moderates the temperature.
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| Four thermometers with identical readings used for checking temperatures inside and outside the yurt. |
I have choosen 4 thermometers that read the correct and the same temperature. The next thing to do is the hang them inside and outside the yurt for comparing temperatures.
Here is a picture of my friend Ella looking at male and female mason bees milling around the entrance of their emergence shelter( upper left). She had never seen them so close. She watched them emerge from their little box or emergence shelter, several matings and extensive grooming by the males after mating. Even though it was 14C outside the yurt, temperatures inside the yurt reached 18C. This is a good temperature for emergence, mating and the females to fly off to find a food source nearby.
The home yurt is filled with nests and mason bee cocoons as the season progresses. When there is lots of food and bees, the whole yurt is filled. In this home yurt, few bees and nests have been set out at the onset
of the season.
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| Ella watching mason bees emerge and mate. |
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| Close-up of male mason bees outside their emergence shelter. |
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| full view of Home-yurt with Ella inside watching the bees emerge. |
When I have large numbers of cocoons, I often use trays. There are about 2000 cocoons on this tray. One tray is turned over to act as a lid. Trays are offset by 1/4″ so that emerged bees can exit. Duct tape or strong rubber bands are used to keep trays in position.
Using 1×1 sticks and set between a couple of highrises, a structure is created to hold trays at the upper level of the yurt, but not under the center hole of the roof.
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| Base tray holds about 2000 cocoons |
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| Two trays are held in place with duct tape. |
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| Two trays offset to create a 1/4″ gap. |
I chatted with a new mason beekeeper today who was confused about directions on a flyer, the web and various other sources. He had bought some mason bee cocoons from a store and the flyer instructed him not to set the package of cocoons out in the sun. Then further down, directions were to set the house with the nesting tunnels in the sun. How confusing!
When bees are still in their cocoons and cannot move about, do not set box of cocoons in direct sun. The heat of the sun could cook them while they are still in their cocoons. The best place for cocoons are within the shelter of a mason bee home under the roof- away from direct sun- but nice an warm.
The house for mason bees should go into a sunny spot. Bees like to be warm when working and young offspring need the heat to move, eat and develop into adults.
An organic apple orchard is a great place for mason bees. No worry about pesticide applications.
When we arrived, we noticed that dandelions were out, but apple blossoms were still closed. The perfect time to set up the bees so they can emerge and gt ready for pollinating the fruit trees. It was a very cold rainy day when we set this up a couple of weeks ago. Brrrrr!!
We arrived at the orchard with the top of the yurt and the base-hexagon pieced together. Both hexagons were marked out to indicate where the vertical uprights had to placed and screwed to make the frame.
This is important, since the spacing of the uprights maximizes the number of Highrises that can be placed at one level. Nine Highrises can be set at each level. There is enough height in the yurt for 4 levels. We started with 3 uprights balancing the base and the roof, and added the remaining uprights soon after.
We then dug some dirt to cover the base of the tarp. This prevents wind from getting into the yurt and creating a draft.
We finished the yurt by stapling the tarp around the yurt.
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| Tim has just finished using 4 screws to hold each upright in place, 2 at the top and two at the base. I attached the tarp with staples to the upper and lower hexagon and then covered the tarp at the base with dirt. |
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| Completed Yurt. You can see that the wind is pushing the tarp against the uprights. |
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| We left the hole we created so that bees could easily get mud for making their nest partitions. |
