Here are a few pictures of the candling process and the things we saw when candling. Candling is the final stage of harvesting and cleaning of mason bee cocoons. First comes harvesting using a SCOOP; placing cocoons into a bucket of water comes next; then washing cocoons under running water using a metal SIEVE (the scouring of the sieve removes the last remaining mites): next is the rinsing of cocoons with a 0.05% bleach solution (about 2 tablespoons into a gallon of water) which removes any parasitic fungi. After allowing cocoons to dry onto some paper towels, cocoons are ready to be candled.
Mason bee cocoons ready for candling in a candling dish.
