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.
