# How To Make Mason Bee Nest Blocks



## DavesBees

Here is a video on how to make mason bee nest blocks.

http://www.vimeo.com/9236864


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## johng

Thanks, I made my first one yesterday. Hopefully I will get some renters pretty soon.


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## DavesBees

That's great johng. Let us know if you have ant check-ins.


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## 11x

i like the video. i plan on making some today. my question is this. when do you put them out? is there a better place than others to put them? do i just lay them arround out side?
should thay be under a overhang out of the rain?
any help would be great


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## DavesBees

11x
Since you live just down the road I can tell you when I put mine up. As soon as you get 3 days in a row above 50 degrees they will start flying. There is no need to put them up for another 3 or 4 weeks but it won’t hurt either. If you have bees in your blocks and you put them up early you may need to protect them from woodpeckers. All of mine are under an overhang but I’m going to play around this summer and hang some of the 2 x 6 blocks on a tree as is. You could make a hat for the top of the block out of whatever you have available to simulate an overhang. It is important that they don’t move so don’t hang them with string. If you have children or if the child in you likes watching the action you can put them on the porch or next to a window. An old bookcase on the porch would be a hoot. Make sure you tape around the crack. For rain you could also cut up an old milk jug to make a roof so where you put them is up to you. They require a constant source of mud to do their mason work and it should be fairly nearby. Within in 50 or 100 feet is good. Mason bees don’t venture out as far as honeybees and tent to forage close to home. I’m sure where you live that you will have good success with your blocks.

Have fun!


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## power napper

Nice job on the video and explanation. Now I got anothe 2do job-building a mason bee nest box.

Thanks for sharing.


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## Omie

I ordered some mason bee cocoons and some mason housing with lined tubes. I also got a setup for my best friend who wishes she could have honeybees but can't where she lives. She could definitely put up some mason bee houses though! Wait til she gets surprised on her birthday with this gift. 
I can't wait! 
I do know that I've seen some little blue-black mason bees in my garden the past two summers, in my flowers. They are very pretty to watch, and so quick!
Won't hurt to have the extra cocoons I ordered, just in case the local bees have diminished. I remember how they LOVED morning glories.


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## beemandan

Way cool Dave.


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## beemandan

I'm thinkin' that I may try a variant of your approach Dave. Rather than ripping off a slice of the original wood, I'll take either a 2x4 or 2x6 and drill completely through it. Then, I'll use a piece of 1x4 furring strip to screw on the back. It seems simpler and I'm a simple kind of guy.


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## Omie

Do you guys clean your wood bee houses each year, or do you discard old ones each year? Or do you use liners in the holes to make them easy to clean out?


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## beemandan

Omie, did you look at the video that Dave posted in the first post of this thread? He lines his with parchment paper (available at any grocery store). I've never lined mine before. I just let them use the holes until they no longer will, then replace the block. But...after looking at Dave's video, I'm going to try it his way.


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## Omie

beemandan said:


> Omie, did you look at the video that Dave posted in the first post of this thread? He lines his with parchment paper (available at any grocery store). I've never lined mine before. I just let them use the holes until they no longer will, then replace the block. But...after looking at Dave's video, I'm going to try it his way.


Yes, I did watch the video a few weeks ago....very nice.
I guess I was asking 'you guys' meaning everyone else on the thread...I should have started a new thread for that question perhaps. 

I actually have parchment paper around anyway for when I bake bread!


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## DavesBees

beemandan,
That is a great idea and it could save some fingers! Try to stick with the 2 by 6 for depth; a 2 by 4 is a little shallow and you will get fewer females. Also, I still recommend the tape around the seam to keep pests out. I’m glad you are going to have fun with it.

Omie,
The tubes are easy, clean, and fun. It is entirely up to you if you want to unroll a tube and inspect the contents or not. There is no cleaning of the block, just replace the tubes during the winter. If you just drill a block that will work fine the first year or two and then they get fouled and the bees won’t use them. It is easier to drill the holes and just put them up. If you have a supply of blocks and wish to use them for one season and then replace them you’ll do just fine. I actually have two large blocks that I’m going to destroy after the bees emerge; they must be 2 and 3 years old.
Regardless put some up and have fun.


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## Omie

DavesBees said:


> Regardless put some up and have fun.


Yes Dave, I have a bunch of tubes and cocoons ordered already, thank you for your encouragement!
I got two sets of 20 cocoons for me and a set of 20 for my best friend's birthday who lives a few blocks away- she'll be so thrilled because she keeps telling me how she so wishes she could keep bees (she refers to my honeybees) but that she doesn't have the space or privacy for a big beehive. These masons she can put up in her apt's back porch area in the tiny back yard! 

I'm so excited to have another type of bee I can raise and house! I know there are masons around here, I saw some in my garden the past two years.


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## Omie

Hi Dave,
Even though I already have a couple of 'can style' tube containers and tubes w/cocoons coming, I just ordered one of you cool wooden mason houses. Yours are obviously superior to the usual drilled wooden mason block houses offered in various places, because you make yours with removable backs which greatly facilitates the changing of paper tubes and the removal and storage of the cocoon-filled tubes over winter.

I look forward to it!


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## beemandan

I am in the process of making one of my own....having stolen Dave's approach but added a twist of my own. The boards are cut. I have the drill bit. It's all on my workbench.....what the heck am I doing sitting in front of this computer?


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## Omie

Hey Dave, I just received your nicely made mason house with the paper liners all set and ready to go. Thanks! 

'Only' 3 or 4 more weeks till things start blooming here!  
(and _why does this winter seem like twice as long as any other winter_??)


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## DavesBees

Omie,
Glad you are happy with the nest block. I am getting ready to put mine up maybe next week. It is ok to put them up early if you are not targeting a specific crop and let them emerge naturally. It would be far better for me to put them out than let them emerge in the shed. I have a few coltsfoot blooming right now but it will be a few days before there are enough for the bees. I also have snowdrops that my honeybees are foraging on but too far for the mason bees. I may put up some empty blocks around the property and video the results just for fun. Did you know you are close to Anarchy Apiaries? You should check out Sam Comfort’s site; he may even be within a half hour drive for you and that would be a local source of honeybees for you.


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## Omie

Hi Dave, yes I am lucky to know Sam Comfort, he helped me with my single beehive last year, that a kind lady bequeathed to me, but sadly the hive died this winter- they lost their queen in November. 
I have two colonies on order for first week of May coming from FatBeeMan in GA- he doesn't use pesticides or antibiotics etc so I feel ok there. I may try to get some other bees or a queen or two from Sam later this year (since I want to end this 2010 season with at least 3 hives)- I will be going to his bee club classes. Sam is great. 

We are I think a bit colder than your area still- no snowdrops or crocuses yet....but soon!


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## beemandan

Not nearly as pretty as Dave’s.


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## DavesBees

Great,
Pretty is not up to us; If the bees move in it is pretty enough. Now that you started with the photos you should keep it up through the season. Mine have been under and overhang and too high up to easily photograph or video. This year I’m putting some down low for that reason. I almost forgot…. Let us know when you spot your first check in.


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## throrope

DavesBees said:


> Here is a video on how to make mason bee nest blocks.
> 
> http://www.vimeo.com/9236864


Thanks


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## Omie

I will be keeping track of what happens with my mason nests this year, and posting photos if I get any tenants.


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## johng

Ok I'm pretty sure I finally have some tenants!!! I have 3 holes capped over with mud and I have one more almost capped. I'm still not 100% sure they are mason bees but, I assume they are. They have a mud cap over the hole just like a honey bee would cap brood.


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## Omie

Wow, that is so great! Mud capped tubes?- sure sounds like mason bees to me. Can you take some photos to show us?
Pick a warm sunny windless midday and sit down in front of your box for 15 minutes....I bet you will see some of your tenants then.

My two species of mason bees are coming and going every minute or so in two of my 3 boxes. I estimate there must be about 10 different females in all, using their various favorite tubes. Still cold here at night in the 30's-40s, so no tube completion and capping yet. But there is plenty of action with females bringing in pollen and bits of mud. 
In the morning when it's still too cool to fly, but the sun is hitting the front of the nests, you can see some little faces and feet in the fronts of the tubes, warming their tootsies in the sun before going out.  They are really _too sweet_, these little solitary bees. I love having them on my kitchen porch!

Dave made me a third nesting block at my request, which I put up. It has 36 slightly smaller (1/4") holes than the 5/16" mason bee holes in the other nests, and we are hoping some leafcutter bees might take interest in it later this Spring. Leafcutters apparently like ever so slightly narrower tubes, and shallower, like 4" long instead of 6". So I asked Dave to make me one, and it looks great! I think leafcutter bees are active a little later here than the mason bees, so the timing is good.


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## DavesBees

That is cool! Omie nailed it; you should be able to watch some action fairly quickly. They can’t sneak that mud into the holes.


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