When I first moved here, Jeff had honeybees. But every time the bears got to his hives and destroyed them. (I still remember that honey he shared with me, the best I’ve ever tasted in my entire life.) Both of us have been wanting to raise honeybees here again, but haven’t had the funds to get started yet. (I’ve probably written about this before, bear with me.) We need hives, for one. Last year, getting started back up with chickens was a higher priority for us (and we can only take on so many projects at once.) This spring, not having the money for it yet, we knew we wouldn’t be getting started with honeybees for another year. We were both a little disappointed, but trust that everything happens in it’s time. And sometimes when you have to wait for things, it makes you appreciate them even more once they come. You know what I mean? There’s many reasons we want to raise honeybees here. We want more pollinators in the garden, we want to help bees in every way we can (with how hard it is for them these days), and the honey would be wonderful too, of course.
I don’t remember exactly how the topic of mason bees came up for us. I think we were driving by the feed store one day on our way to town and the sign out front said something like: “mason bees: the best pollinators.” That got Jeff and I talking. We ended up buying ten mason bees from Diess Feed & Seed. I think it was around twelve dollars. They came in a little tiny cardboard box and I looked at it, asking: “How are they alive in there?!” I wondered how in the world ten bees could fit inside something so small. I was expecting a container with live, buzzing bees. Then the guy explained that there were cocoons inside and that you keep the box in the fridge to keep them from hatching. You bring them outside in the spring when you’re ready for them to pollinate. They pollinate fruit trees and blueberry bushes. (I guess I should be clear here: there are many different kinds of mason bees, we got a kind that pollinates in the spring and is for pollinating fruit trees and blueberry bushes.)
Jeff got started making a house for them (above.) He cut a log in half and drilled deep holes in it. Then we did a bit of research and learned that wood houses are not ideal for mason bees because you can’t clean them at the end of the season. From what we read, cardboard tubes were recommended. Jeff had already made the house so he put a bark roof on it, hung it on an old wagon wheel out front that a friend gave us, and decided to let the wild bees in the area live there if they’d like.
The next time we went by the feed store, we bought some cardboard tubes for mason bees, just shy of nine dollars. Jeff hadn’t wanted to purchase them the first time we went, he wanted to make his own house for them (for free.) But after learning that we could keep mason bees going for much longer that way, we decided to spend the money. (In the fall: tubes that had been occupied must be thrown out, tubes that were unoccupied can be reused. More info here.) The brand on the nesting tubes for mason bees was called Beediverse, (the same that the mason bees came from.)
To learn about keeping mason bees, we’ve found two websites helpful so far: Beediverse and Crown Bees.
We had a piece of bamboo that was the perfect size to fit the tubes inside.
Jeff took some wire and hung it down from the rafter on the chicken coop.
Jeff put the wee box with the cocoons inside, on top of their house, attached by a rubber band. We wanted them near their home when they emerged.
Jeff cut the piece of bamboo longer than the nesting tubes, so they would have protection.
We chose the sunny side of the chicken coop, the one with the cold frame. (Oh yes, and St. Francis.)
The view through the grape arbor.
This gives you a peek at the starts in the coldframe too.
I can’t tell you how excited we all were to put the mason bees out yesterday. They were waiting patiently in our fridge. Bracken kept asking when we were going to bring the bees outside. We all definitely have a new interest: mason bees! We’ve been soaking up everything we learn about them. Last night I dreamt about our mason bees along the coop. This morning I couldn’t help myself, I wanted to go take a peek.
Here is a peek inside the box, so you can see the cocoons.
Yesterday, when we were all so excited to put our mason bees outside, we made sure the bee water was full and watered some “mud” around their home that they like to build with. We wondered if we were putting them out at the right time? To early? To late? (That newbie uncertainty.) The huckleberries and blueberries are blooming. And now the fruit trees are starting to blossom. I noticed the pink apple blossoms (above) just this week. So we think the timing is just right. We’ll see. We’ll learn more every year.
Mossy bird’s nest in the apple tree, from last spring.
So, for about twenty one dollars we were able to get bees going at our place this spring after all. Not honeybees this year, but that’s alright. We’re really grateful we’ve learned about mason bees! Did you know a single mason bee can pollinate as much as one hundred honeybees? We were blown away by that! Here is says: “the rare sting is similar to a mosquito bite.” Reading that made me feel even more comfortable with having them around, especially with our three year old running around. The idea of them increasing our fruit yields sounds absolutely wonderful to us. Well, we’re in love with mason bees already and ours haven’t even hatched yet.
Do any of you raise mason bees?
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