Thinking about putting the houses in my garden shed until October. My garden shed has no windows but it is in the shade. In July and August it can get pretty warm. How warm can the shed get before it's too warm or hot for the bees?
Mason bee larvae?
After taking these pictures, I closed the glove and put it into another glove to give the larvae a chance.
@Crownbees
What are these long, black things coming out of my cocoon? Poop or a parasite? Wondering if I should I still put the cocoon out. Thanks!
Looking for feedback. The plan to build a durable, reusable and maintainsble beehouse and especially the choosen material.
Using a wood router to grind half circular canals in a piece of board. Stacking these boards to create circular holes. Making a frame to stack the boards in and locking them in place. Easy to harvest and easy to clean.
What material would be best to use for the purpose of keeping masonbees? Plain wood might bend over time. And weatherproof mdf or multiplex might contain poisonous substances for the bees. Any tips?
If you've got painting, pressure washing, or other work to do near your bee house but the Mason bees are actively nesting, you don't have to wait. Move at dusk when the females are tucked in. Carry the house 6-8 feet away, keep it facing the same direction so returning bees can reorient, do your work the next day, and move it back at nightfall.
I have a bee garden on the front part of my house, west side of the house. I definitely thought that this area got full sun, but now I'm concerned that it might be getting some dappled sun with our sidewalk trees. These photos were taken at 1:30pm in Vancouver WA. Everything is flowering and has growth on it.
Some of the plants are growing pretty intensely towards the sun and my lavender is a bit droopy.
Thoughts? We can cut some limbs off the trees if
I put out our Mason bee cocoons on 4/23. It’s now 5/13 and I’m seeing no caps yet. We have about four Mason bee ladies living in our bee house and going in and out. Today I spotted two spiders also living in the bee house. I evicted one of them, but couldn’t get to the other. Is it surprising that the four bees who frequent the house have yet to cap any tubes as it has been almost a month? Should I assume the rest have decided to nest elsewhere? Maybe I put them out too late since we are in California?
This is an update on the improved cage that I posted about earlier to protect from a pileated woodpecker. It appears to work well. It's funny how it investigates each side to find a way in. I'm glad that I used a thicker gauge wire and screwed it to the house because it's alarming how much the house gets jostled when the bird flies away.
Sorry about the bad focus (camera limitation) and it didn't capture the bird landing because there's a short delay between motion detection and recording.
Я нашла пчёлку на улице, ужасная кроха , меньше сантиметра. На улице так холодно, она валялась на пешеходной дорожке, я подобрала, принесла домой, она очень вялая, я развела мёд с водой 1:1 как прочитала в Гугле но там то говорят что можно, то что нельзя... Подскажите пожалуйста чем кормить пчёлку
I was chilling in the yard when a Pileated Woodpecker landed on a tree in front of me. Beautiful bird, but before I could get a photo, it flew to the bee house and grabbed onto the front.
I was wondering why a few of the nesting spots had been reopened in the evenings. Last year I lost most of the bees in the front of the house, likely to this or our resident Flickers (another woodpecker). That’s why I put up the mesh, but it was only about 1.5 inches from the nesting block, and the woodpecker’s beak is up to 2.4 inches.
The second photo is my hastily engineered solution, using some leftover cage fencing. It’s over 3 inches from the block. Hopefully this does the trick.
I’ve read I can pull full tubes now from the house to store somewhere else to help prevent predators getting to them. If I pull them and it reorganizes the whole house, how will the bees currently still filling their tubes know which tube is theirs? Are they scent marked? I have 40 tubes and slightly over half are filled and capped. So far I haven’t removed any.
Last year march I bought a small insect hotel and put it in a corner on our balcony with the intention of hanging it asap and before I knew it, we already had masonbees. We live in the first floor so I didn't even know if it would work
I ended up hanging it as close as possible as where it was standing, it has almost no sun. But is fully protected from rain and wind.
Last year 1/5 of the hotel was full this year their are 14 'open' spaces of which at least 5 are also in use.
We live close to the alps on the Nord side.
The tubes are karton. And stuck in there. I want them to survive coming winter to and have enough space next year. What do I do?
We feel good about the name. "Trap"-ich. Trying on the Houdini Fly Traps!