# My second year for Mason bees- 2011



## Omie

I set my cocoons out today in the two emergence bankcheck boxes, strapped to the nest boxes.
Fruit trees not blooming yet, but a few dogwoods and forsythia blooming, daffodils, etc. I figure they'll take a few more days to warm up and start emerging from their cocoons anyway. What a late Spring we are having!


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## Omie

Had lots of male solitary bees emerge today! There were many little poops around the holes in the exit boxes (the bees will poop first thing after emerging, before they fly for the first time). The poops told me the bees had come out of the emergance boxes and were not just neighborhood bees coming around.

I saw some fuzzy brown male Osmia taurus, and quite a few little male Osmia lignaria (blue orchard masons). Both species had nested in my tubes last year. The blue orchard males were easily recognized by their long antennae, blue metallic abdomens, and their very cute little brushy white moustaches!
I'm hoping my 10 bought cocoons of Osmia cornifrons (hornfaced bee) will hatch out as well- will examine the contents of the emergence boxes in a couple of weeks or so. Females might still be emerging several weeks from now, so I need to give them time.

I missed having the sweet little solitary bees buzzing about on our kitchen porch- so nice to have them back again! Jim the mailman enjoys stopping to watch them as well, when he comes to deliver our mail to our porch.


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## Omie

*My horn faced bees are emerging and mating!*

Last winter I got 10 cocoons of horn faced bees (Osmia cornifrons) from Dave at Crownbees.com . Today 7 of the 10 have already hatched and are mating. They look different from my other two species of masons (O.taurus & O.lignaria).
I got some good photos of one _cornifrons_ couple mating near the nest boxes on my porch this morning. The male was doing some strange gymnastics...see them HERE.


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## DavesBees

*Re: My horn faced bees are emerging and mating!*

Omie,
Really nice photos! Did you have any mason bees try to go back in the release box. I came up with a simple solution to prevent it. I just rolled a piece of window screen on a pencil and stuck it in the hole. Then I duct taped it to the box so it wouldn't fall out. The release block is on the left in this video. http://www.vimeo.com/23126028


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## Seattleite

*Re: My horn faced bees are emerging and mating!*

Omie, I think those are the best mason bee pictures I've ever seen. Thanks for sharing!


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## Omie

*Re: My horn faced bees are emerging and mating!*



DavesBees said:


> Omie,
> Really nice photos! Did you have any mason bees try to go back in the release box. I came up with a simple solution to prevent it. I just rolled a piece of window screen on a pencil and stuck it in the hole. Then I duct taped it to the box so it wouldn't fall out. The release block is on the left in this video.


Yes Dave, i did have some bees trying to go back in the release boxes (bank check boxes with a 1/2" hole) and nest in the old tubes again. What I did was take the tubes out of the boxes, put a rubber band around them, and put them in a plastic ziploc bag where I made a small 1/4" hole on each end of the bag, near both tube ends. I attached the bag with tubes onto the nesting blocks. This seemed to work, since the bees could exit easily but couldn't figure out how to get back into the plastic bag like they were able to with the box. Everything was in the shade and the weather was nice.



Seattleite said:


> Omie, I think those are the best mason bee pictures I've ever seen. Thanks for sharing!


Wow, thanks! I liked the pale green porch paint background- that's where the amorous couple was- on my kitchen porch floor.... rather unseemly! lol


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## Omie

*Re: My horn faced bees are emerging and mating!*

An update towards the end of 2011....

It was a good year for my solitary/mason bees. I counted 183 full or mostly full tubes.
I sorted through them all today- saved the untouched ones to use again, and tossed a few bad ones. Of the good filled tubes, I marked the back/rear end of each paper tube liner with a magic marker so I'd know which end the bees would be coming out of next Spring, and I'd be able to place them correctly to emerge outward. I spot checked about a dozen tubes to make sure there were viable cocoons in the tubes. The tubes seem to contain an average of 3 good cocoons each- some have as few as 2, some have 4 or 5. A few empty or damaged chambers in the inspected straws as well, but enough good cocoons to be productive. I'm pleased! 

Two years ago I started out with only 6 bought tubes of blue orchard bees, about half of which never emerged, but i know some local mason bees also came to the nest boxes that year. I know of three species that I definitely saw nesting in and filling my tubes this past year- the eastern blue orchard (Osmia lignaria), the little brown Osmia taurus, and the Horn-faced bee (Osmia cornifrons). So my tubes now contain a mix of at least those three species.
With 183 tubes containing perhaps 3 live bees each, that represents maybe 450-550 bees next Spring. I'm ordering more tubes and liners! I'm going to ask my husband to make a single large tall narrow wood box for our porch next year, with 'shelves' to pile the tubes on. Sort of like a deep CD shelf tower. lol!

Just as I successfully stored my cocoons last year, I put the unopened full nesting straws carefully in a large ziploc bag with a bunch of little holes poked in it (for air circulation) in my veggie drawer in the fridge, along with a wet folded paper towel left in an open plastic bag to ensure the drawer maintains some humidity. Some folks use a damp sponge in the drawer, but either damp sponge or paper towel are placed so they doesn't actually wet the straws.

It's been fun this year!


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## rwurster

*Re: My horn faced bees are emerging and mating!*

Most of my leaf cutter bee cocoons got nailed by parasitic wasps this year but the wasps didnt get far enough in to the blocks to get the mason bees. I also got some cocoons that i have never seen before, it lookes like the ends of the blocks were sealed with construction adhesive in late summer. In December I'll open my blocks up to see what is in them but this year has been horrible for me as far as solitary bees are concerned. I always let mine winter in a couple 5 gallon buckets in a hog shed (covered with mesh to keep the mice away). I can't wait for springtime!


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## Omie

*Re: My horn faced bees are emerging and mating!*

rwurster, a neighbor of mine down the road had a little bunch of tubes put out this year. Only one solitary bee checked it out but didn't nest in it, and she moved away last month and gave it to me. When I examined her tubes last week, the only action in them was some green leaf chambers obviously made by some leafcutter bee, but whatever offspring had been laid in them was gone- perhaps a victim of parasites or insect predators. 
Interesting that we are only 1/2 mile away from each other- but she got only leafcutter bees, and I get only mason bees but no leafcutters. And we used the same style tubes and boxes! Go figure.


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## buhbee

*Re: My horn faced bees are emerging and mating!*

Hi Omie,

I want to put out a block or two for solitary bees here in late winter or early spring. Do you have any advice on luring them to a new block and new tubes? I'd prefer to attract native bees rather than purchase any. Thanks.

Greg in TN


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## rwurster

*Re: My horn faced bees are emerging and mating!*

The leafcutters around here go through 2 life cycles in one season so it sounds like maybe this is the case in your area also. What I think you got is tubes that leafcutters had nested in but then later hatched out and they didn't return to the same tubes to lay the 2nd generation (which overwinters). The most typical predation on leafcutters (besides woodpeckers) are parasitic wasps. The telltale signs of larvae that have been preyed on by these wasps is a small hole in the side of the cocoon. The cocoons are still intact when a wasp gets to the larvae but it will easily crumble between your fingers if this is what has happened. Sounds like yours just hatched out. I use nesting blocks that I made, but I keep them out all year because after the mason bees lay in them, the leafcutters will come in and lay after them. You have to get all the cocoons out before spring though because the masons emerge first. The difference between mason and leafcutter cocoons is quite obvious so there wont be any mix ups when separating them. I put both types of cocoons out in a little box (with some sawdust for insulation) in the spring. The masons emerge very early and the leafcutters emerge when you have had maybe 2 weeks of 65+ degree weather.

"In eastern Washington state
for example, up to 90 percent of the eggs laid in June
may result in second-generation bees. Of eggs laid
after mid-July, only 50 percent may develop into
second-generation bees, and of eggs laid in August,
few second-generation bees will normally emerge." on leafcutter bees


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## Omie

*Re: My horn faced bees are emerging and mating!*



buhbee said:


> I want to put out a block or two for solitary bees here in late winter or early spring. Do you have any advice on luring them to a new block and new tubes? I'd prefer to attract native bees rather than purchase any. Thanks.
> Greg in TN


Hi Greg,
I think the best thing you can do is locate your nesting blocks in a semi-protected place where they get the first morning sun. Mine like it under my kitchen porch roof where the sun hits them in the morning.
I buy my nesting tubes from Dave at _crownbees.com_ ...a very informative site. The site seems to be down today but I'm sure it will be back up and running shortly. Dave's a good guy, is generous in giving helpful advice, and ships fast. He posts here too. Crownbees also sells a pad that contains a 'lure' scent of some sort. I know nothing about it but you can ask Dave.
Once you have nesting bees, the tubes and/or boxes or even just the box area will retain a scent of previous nestings and that will be attractive to bees. The bees do a 'cleansing poop' immediately after emerging from their cocoons, and I believe that also adds a scent in the next box area.
Here's a cool photo I took of one of my horn faced bee females doing her first poop shortly after emerging from her cocoon and mating this past Spring, you can see her two little face 'horns' in the photo as well.
*Click to enlarge:*








LOL- I guess you know you are obsessed when you get excited over a bee pooping!


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## buhbee

*Re: My horn faced bees are emerging and mating!*



Omie said:


> I buy my nesting tubes from Dave at _crownbees.com_ ...a very informative site.
> 
> LOL- I guess you know you are obsessed when you get excited over a bee pooping!


Omie, Thank you for the information and tip on crownbees.com. After browsing around Dave's site for an hour or more yesterday, I now have a better idea of how to get started. I have a couple good spots picked out for nest sites and think I will try placing a few tubes at both this spring. Heck, I might even order a few cocoons to get started early. I like the photo you snapped of the little horn-faced bee doing her business, and can hardly wait to get started.

Thanks again for starting this thread and for your help.

Greg


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## Gypsi

*Re: My horn faced bees are emerging and mating!*

I will have to check out Crownbees.com. I saw mason bees in my garden this year (I bent to admire one of my honeybees, then called the gal I got them from because it was blue - what was wrong!)

Beautiful pics


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## Omie

*Re: My horn faced bees are emerging and mating!*

Gypsi, that is too funny about the defective blue honeybee! :lpf:

The site at crownbees.com is having a few problems right now, but should be functioning again soon. Meanwhile you can email Dave of crownbees directly at: [email protected]
I find Dave to be very helpful and he sells a good selection of boxes and tubes and liners.


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## Omie

*Re: My horn faced bees are emerging and mating!*

Just wanted to clarify that Dave's mason bee site at www.crownbees.com is _not_ having trouble loading- turns out I was using an old bookmark from before he revamped his site, and that's why it wasn't loading. Sorry, _crownbees.com and it's newly redesigned site is working just fine_! Got my box of new nesting straws and tubes from Dave today in the mail- can't wait for next Spring! :banana:


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## woodinvilledave

*Re: My horn faced bees are emerging and mating!*

Omie,
thanks for the kind words. It's important for all of us to be successful raising mason bees. I just attended the Orchard Bee Association's meeing last week. We think that we're about a billion mason bees shy of where we need to be today. ...let alone in 5-7 years if the honey bees continue to have their challenges.

Why does success matter? In about 5 years my company will be trading free tubes/reeds for excess mason bee cocoons. These cocoons will be used in commercial orchards around where the bees are raised. 

The more we can get people to be successful today, the better off we'll be in the future. Encourage gardeners to try mason bees out!


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## Ravenseye

*Re: My horn faced bees are emerging and mating!*

I just pulled and cleaned my cocoons this morning. Had a fair amount with wasp damage. Two cocoons were full of wasps and it was pretty interesting to open the cocoon and see the very tiny wasps inside. I had a fair amount of cocoons with a single hole and except for the ones filled with wasps, the rest were empty of nearly empty. Took me a while to keep those out of the mix. Anyway, they're all cleaned and in storage. About 50 in all. I also had five unknown cocoons. Those were yellow / green and sort of squarish. I'm holding those separately and I hope to see what emerges in the spring. Time will tell. On top of that, I have about 50 cocoons that I ordered online. About half of those are for a friend that wants to give them a shot. Overall, I'm pretty happy with the year!


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## woodinvilledave

Ravenseye, hopefully the bees you're getting are eastern bees or hornfaced. Be wary of buying bees that aren't native to your area. Western bees don't survive well in humid environments. ...they might adapt, but in general will be marginal performers at best.

Sorry to hear about the mono-intrusion. Bringing your tubes just after the spring bee season is the best manner to avoid these guys. ...or have really thick tubes or reeds.

I believe that one company, ournativebees.com has eastern BOBs, my company (Crownbees) has hornfaced, and I believe that there might be one western bee companies selling eastern bees... though I would be cautious and ask where specifically they were raised. You might be surprised with the results.

Ethics is important.


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## Omie

I agree with Dave in that my first year I saw wasps actively poking around in the bee boxes in the Fall....long after there were any solitary bees nesting. It's best to remove the tubes once Summer ends, just to get them away from possible invaders. You don't want to bring them into a warm house though in the Fall- perhaps make a varmint-proof container with plenty of air vents or openings and place it on a safe shelf in an unheated garage or shed. I have an unheated garage shelf to store mine after nesting time. Once winter approaches you can then store in same cold garage or in your fridge veggie drawer like I do, at about 35-45F.


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## rwurster

My first year I had 30% losses due to wasps (masons and leafcutters). The second year I converted the feeding silos in my hogshed into storage areas for bees. I left a small opening at the top of the silo (just enough to let a sliver of southern light in). The reasoning behind the darkness with a sliver of light is that when the wasps emerge they fly to the light and cant find their way back to the nesting blocks. The second year when I did this I had about 3% losses due to wasps. Maybe it was a coincidence, maybe it wasn't. This past year (3rd year) I left the blocks out all season to let leafcutters nest in front of the masons and despite unforseen losses I could see about 30% of the losses would have been attributed to wasps. I personally am going to pull blocks and store in a dark place after the mason season is over and set new blocks as the leafcutter season begins.


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## Ravenseye

Thanks for all the advice. I learn from here and from doing it so it's all good. Overall, I'm pretty happy with my success so far. I've been leaving the block out all spring and summer so maybe it's time for a change. Don't know for sure how native the bee's are. They are from Beediverse and they look exactly like the bee's and cocoons that I saw before I got "store bought" bee's.


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## JMP

Hello all. Great info here on mason bees. I have four hives of Italian honeybees but am new to mason bees. What do you find to be the best nesting material? Wooden blocks lined with paper? Reeds? Cardboard tubes? Would like to attract some and figure if I am going to try might as well use what they might prefer the most. Thanks! 

John


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## Omie

Hi John,
I have some success with wooden blocks using paper liners, but my masons seem to _really_ love the cardboard tubes (either replaceable each year or with replaceable inner paper liners). I like to bundle the tubes into wooden box shelters with a slight roof overhang to keep rain out, and some chicken wire across the front to keep out woodpeckers and other large predators.


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## JMP

Thanks Omie! Do you have a supplier that you recommend?


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## Omie

Yes i do: Dave at *crownbees.com*


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## bnm1000

Thanks for the referral - I checked out the crownbees site this weekend and placed an order. Unfortunately, it appears that the Eastern blue orchard mason bee is sold out. If anyone knows a source, let me know. I would love to combine some with the horned face mason bees I ordered.

Quick question/thought - Does anyone have much experience with "summer mason bees"? I noticed on Dave's site they sell different sized reeds for summer mason bees. I was thinking maybe I could bring my blocks into the garage after the Spring mason bees were finished and set out new blocks for leaf cutters/summer mason bees during the summer and fall months - then hibernate all of them. Do the summer bees/leaf cutters hibernate longer? Do you release them all (spring and summer) at the same time?


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## JMP

Thanks Omie. Will check out the site.


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## kincade

Nesting materials are also dictated by your pests. Around here i have to use reeds due to mono wasps. Last year i had almost a 100% loss in my eztear cardboard tubes. Even the kraft tubes had losses. 

Ymmv obviously, but id recommend mixing up your materials so you will know what works and what doesnt.


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## Jaysen

I have used wood blocks, cardboard tubes with inserts, and native reeds. I have tried them side by side and seperate. All work. The native reeds are by far the nesting material of choice in my area. Mountain west mason bees sells them for a good price.


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## JMP

I think I am going to try all three and see what the girls like in this area of Massachusetts. There is an AMPLE supply of free reeds in most of the wetlands here.


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## kincade

Jaysen said:


> I have used wood blocks, cardboard tubes with inserts, and native reeds. I have tried them side by side and seperate. All work. The native reeds are by far the nesting material of choice in my area. Mountain west mason bees sells them for a good price.


Jaysen, do you have problems with mono and cardboard tubes? Like i said, i had almost 100% losses with my cardboard tubes and mono in slc this year, even the very thick craft tubes.


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## Omie

JMP said:


> I think I am going to try all three and see what the girls like in this area of Massachusetts. There is an AMPLE supply of free reeds in most of the wetlands here.


I'm reading about others and their successes and failures of natural reeds/cardboard tubes, etc. Since you are near me in MA, I'll just say that I put out a big can full of japanese knotweed reeds of all sizes last Spring and never had a single bee insterested- not sure why. I'll leave the reeds out again this year to see. But boy they loved my cans full of heavy cardboard tubes with paper liners. I had few wasp problems, but might have had even fewer problems if I had taken my tubes in before October. Next year i'll take them in to protect them after August i think. I will keep them in my garage away from wasps (and mice!), but I won't put them in the fridge until it gets really cold like in November.


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## Jaysen

kincade said:


> Jaysen, do you have problems with mono and cardboard tubes? Like i said, i had almost 100% losses with my cardboard tubes and mono in slc this year, even the very thick craft tubes.


Yes. Last year was the worst I have ever seen with the cardboard tubes. Those little "buggers" wiped out nearly every cocoon inside my inserts.


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## JMP

Good to know Omie. I was thinking of using common reed (_Phragmites australis_) which are the tall "grassy" looking plants you see along highways, disturbed areas etc. I have seen some folks using wood blocks with removable backs. The roll up parchment paper and line each hole. Any experience or thoughs on that method?


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## kincade

Jaysen said:


> Yes. Last year was the worst I have ever seen with the cardboard tubes. Those little "buggers" wiped out nearly every cocoon inside my inserts.


Same here. Im going to 100% reeds this year in hopes to avoid more losses.


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## Omie

JMP said:


> I have seen some folks using wood blocks with removable backs. The roll up parchment paper and line each hole. Any experience or thoughs on that method?


Just be sure you don't put the new paper rollups into the block until right before you put the block out. Otherwise if the weather and humidity dampen the paper for too long before the bees come, the ends of the rolled parchment can start to curl inwards and the bees have a hard time getting into the tube- they chew at the curled paper to get the hole open so they can enter. Best to put the parchment rolls in nice and fresh right before you put the bees out to hatch.


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## Gyozu

Omie said:


> Just be sure you don't put the new paper rollups into the block until right before you put the block out. Otherwise if the weather and humidity dampen the paper for too long before the bees come, the ends of the rolled parchment can start to curl inwards and the bees have a hard time getting into the tube- they chew at the curled paper to get the hole open so they can enter. Best to put the parchment rolls in nice and fresh right before you put the bees out to hatch.


I have used the parchment paper tubes since '08.
what I do to avoid the curling is the following.
* cut all paper as far ahead of time as possible and then store outside with a weight on top of the pile.
* Roll the tube against the original curl
* Before putting on backs, store blocks with tubes outside for several days in a sheltered place (I use a screen porch) to let everything equilibrate and settle down.
* Put a roof extension over blocks to help shed rain. (still have mixed feeling over this.
So far everything is OK after a couple of weeks, but we have not had a driving rain.


* Last year I taped up the back of the blocks to seal the gap that predatory wasps were using. that worked OK.

I plan to try the blocks with the grooves and no liners this year, if I can get my act together.


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