Face East and under cover

At my recent workshop, I stressed that the location of a bee home is the most important part of starting with mason bees.  The initial focus is to produce more bees for next year.  East facing provides the bees with a warm early morning sun.  A protected site  from wind and rain is another important factor to consider.   Ken H.  has it figured out.    His bee homes face East and receive the warm early morning sun.  In addition his bee homes are protected from rain and wind by an overhang of his home.

Once you have produced more than a handful of cocoons, it might be time to consider placing some of the cocoons closer to the plants that need pollination. Mason bees travel up to 500 feet or so, but of course setting them closer to the flowers will save them time to pollinate more flowers.

East facing

Metal release box

Ken was also kind enough to send us a picture of his metal release box.  Critters cannot get into this box, that is for sure.   Thanks Ken.

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