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Bumble bee on red clover. 
Photo by Ian Lane with perm.

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Langley orchard Late April

Beautifull apple blossoms

Dwarf apples in full bloom

Cherry blossom- full bloom



Just think of all the cherries!



More nests and mason bee cocoons were placed into the yurt. 
Crabapple in foreground is no longer in bloom like it was in mid April.



Packaging mason bee cocoons

Labelling cardboard boxes.

Labelled boxes ready for cocoons.

After washing cocoons they are air dried for about an hour.  Then, cocoons are candled to remove any parasitized cocoons.  Cocoons are stored in fridges until packaged, and then returned to fridges until sold.  Packages are first labelled.  Cocoons are then selected and carefully pushed into each box.  In a package of 10 there are 4 females and 6 males.

Filling boxes with cocoons. 

Boxed cocoons ready for sale.

Setting out new nests next to the old ones?

A question from Michael in Oregon.

Hi Margriet,

If I need to set out more nesting sites for the Mason bees should I put them next to existing sites, or, put them a bit away from the one’s I originally set out?

The reason I ask is that I am get many more bees to nest so far this spring compared to last year but I do not want to mess up the bees visual cues to the old sites.  I also know they like to be near each other.  Your thoughts?

-thanks

I don't have the exact answer, but I think you are on the right track.  Perhaps in visual range and clustered nearby would be a good solution. -Margriet

 

Langley orchard with yurt in mid April

In mid- April, a few trees were in bloom.  Mostly the crabapples and other pollinizers.  The yurt is in the background.  We set out 1200 cocoons with 650 nesting tunnels- about 1 nesting hole per female in 9 Highrises.



Blooming crabapple with Yurt in background.





I installed ten highrises inside this yurt for a start.
 The emergence shelters containing the cocoons sit on top of each highrise.
 Between 100-200 cocoons are in each emergence shelter.
 In two weeks time I will add more highrises and cocoons.



I use hooks to hang Highrises on the uprights of the Yurt.

Home Yurt- males and females emerging

Here is a picture of my friend Ella looking at male and female mason bees milling around the entrance of their emergence shelter( upper left).  She had never seen them so close.  She watched them emerge from their little box or emergence shelter, several matings and extensive grooming by the males after mating.  Even though it was 14C outside the yurt, temperatures inside the yurt reached 18C.  This is a good temperature for emergence, mating and the females to fly off to find a food source nearby.

The home yurt is filled with nests and mason bee cocoons as the season progresses.  When there is lots of food and bees, the whole yurt is filled.  In this home yurt, few bees and nests have been set out at the onset

 of the season.



Ella watching mason bees emerge and mate.



Close-up of male mason bees outside their emergence shelter.

full view of Home-yurt with Ella inside watching the bees emerge.

Mason Bee release shelter-for large number of cocoons

When I have large numbers of cocoons, I often use trays.  There are about 2000 cocoons on this tray. One tray is turned over to act as a lid.  Trays are offset by 1/4" so that emerged bees can exit.  Duct tape or strong rubber bands are used to keep trays in position.

Using 1x1 sticks and set between a couple of highrises, a structure is created to hold trays at the upper level of the yurt, but not under the center hole of the roof.



Base tray holds about 2000 cocoons



Two trays are held in place with duct tape.



Two trays offset to create a 1/4" gap.



In the sun or out?

I chatted with a new mason beekeeper today who was confused about directions on a flyer, the web and various other sources.  He had bought some mason bee cocoons from a store and the flyer instructed him not to set the package of cocoons out in the sun.  Then further down, directions were to set the house with the nesting tunnels in the sun.  How confusing!

When bees are still in their cocoons and cannot move about, do not set box of cocoons in direct sun.  The heat of the sun could cook them while they are still in their cocoons.  The best place for cocoons are within the shelter of a mason bee home under the roof- away from direct sun- but nice an warm.

The house for mason bees should go into a sunny spot.  Bees like to be warm when working and young offspring need the heat to move, eat and develop into adults.

Mason Bee Field Shelter- Yurt in Mt Vernon

An organic apple orchard is a great place for mason bees.  No worry about pesticide applications.

When we arrived, we noticed that dandelions were out, but apple blossoms were still closed.  The perfect time to set up the bees so they can emerge and gt ready for pollinating the fruit trees.  It was a very cold rainy day when we set this up a couple of weeks ago.  Brrrrr!!

We arrived at the orchard with the top of the yurt and the base-hexagon pieced together.  Both hexagons were marked out to indicate where  the vertical uprights had to placed and screwed to make the frame.  

This is important, since the spacing of the uprights maximizes the number of Highrises that can be placed at one level.  Nine Highrises can be set at each level.  There is enough height in the yurt for 4 levels.  We started with 3 uprights balancing the base and the roof, and added the remaining uprights soon after.

We then dug some dirt to cover the base of the tarp.  This prevents wind from getting into the yurt and creating a draft.

We finished the yurt by stapling the tarp around the yurt.

Tim has just finished using 4 screws to hold each upright in place,
2 at the top and two at the base.   I attached the tarp with staples
to the upper and lower hexagon and then covered the tarp at the base with dirt.

Completed Yurt.  You can see that the wind is pushing
 the tarp against the uprights.

We left the hole we created so that bees could easily get mud for making
their nest partitions.

Dandelion flowers-food for bees!

Here on the west coast of British Columbia, my favourite flower came out in abundance.  It is a wonderful plant that provides both pollen and nectar to bees when there is little else for them to forage on early spring.  One day, this beautiful plant will be encouraged in lawn and gardens!

Dandelion flowers

In this field, many dandelions provide an abundance of food for bees
in early spring before apple blossoms appear (apple orchard in background).

Early April

We have been busy shipping mason bee cocoons and mason bee homes to our customers.  There is always lots to do.  Over Easter we visited our family on the Sunshine Coast.  I was alerted to a store sign about Mason bees.  I drove to the Sunshine Coast Nursery and took a photo of their great sign.  The photos is slightly out of focus, but here is what it says

MASON BEES ARE

SUPER GOOD

BRING THEM TO

YOUR NEIGHBOURHOOD

What a great sign to let people know that mason bees are being sold at this store.

 I hope everyone is enjoying our wonderful spring weather.  Margriet

Tell others that even low levels of pesticides can be damaging to bee populations

Here is an article of great importance.  It describes two studies with a commonly used pesticide that show a serious effects on bumble bee populations.

Read more

Yurt by Beediverse-new product

You can now make your own Beediverse Yurt with the hexagon roof and top.  It is a great design. We have 5 roof units available.  Other items like uprights, screws, hooks and ties are available at any hardware store. 
click here for yurt-roof product on Beediverse web site

We offer the roof unit as a product with full instructions and material needed to complete the yurt.

Fully assembled yurt roof is available as a  product.



Partially assembled Yurt.  With the fully assembled roof
and base hexagon assembly starts with attaching
 the first 3 uprights  to roof and base.



Fully assembled Yurt

Ants- watch out!

Check out your mason bee homes every now and then, and make sure you do not have a line of ants crawling towards the bees' nests.  A good way of getting rid of them is to first remove most of the ants bysquashing them, and then have a water spary and then drip at the location where ants are crawling up the structure.  When the ground is wet, ants are discouraged from going in the direction of moist soil.

Pieris japonica- early spring bloom

You can't beat this plant for being ready with nectar for early spring bees.  Here on the west coast of NA, the early blooming pieris is in bloom.  It is a hardy plant, great to have around the house.  This morning I saw a fly and a bumble bee feeding on the nectar of this plant.

Sheltered spot for mason bee homes

A great place for mason bee homes.  It is East facing and out of the wind.  When you start with mason bees in a location such as this though, it will take a few years before the bees begin using the mason bee homes.  Mason Bees will usually use the shingles first.

Rex's Field Shelter

Here is a good design of a Field Shelter.  It is constructed with one post and two supporting posts at the front.  Plywood is attached to the post and mason bee homes are attached to the back wall.  It creates a warm environment and it is out of the wind.

Mason bees for sale

Yes, Beediverse has both Osmia lignaria (early spring mason bees) and Osmia californica (late spring mason bees) available until late April.

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Close to 28,000 items have been viewed since Dec of 2010.  I am certainly enjoying the increased interest in my blog.  It is a lot of fun to write.  I love getting stories from other countries.  This makes it all the more interesting.

Keep the stories and photos coming.  Other mason bee enthusiasts are very interested in how it is done in other parts of the country.

Thank you for joining.  It provides me with feedback on how I am doing with this blog.
Margriet

A 4-sided field shelter on a metal pole.

Margriet,

I phoned you a few weeks ago to ask about where to place our new bee house.  You suggested a location that faces east and gets morning sun, and then added that putting a shelter around the house to keep off rain and wind would be a good idea.  Finally, you asked that if I built such a shelter, I should send you some photos. 

The photos are attached.  The shelter faces east in a place where it should get morning sun, and it's stained a dark brown to absorb heat.  It's about 60 meters away from the apple tree we are hoping the bees will pollinate.  I hope that's not too far.  The bees may find flowers and other plants closer by and never make it to the apple tree.  But we'll keep our fingers crossed.

Don N.   Germantown Hills, IL
  Hi Don,

Thank you for sharing your photos and story.  I think the shelter will work very nicely.  No, I dont think 60 yards is too far away from the orchard.  But, if you do find that pollination did not improve, set up your shelter closer to your orchard.  Margriet



This is where the shlelter is located.  East facing,

with trees as added wind protection.





Don's shelter holds one Royal mason bee home with
Quicklock corn nesting trays.  Above the Royal, there
are two sturdy Emergence Shelters

with cocoons- waiting for warmer weather.



This is the same shelter as above, showing more of the structure.