Added some bamboo tubes

 The bees seem to be running out of tubes,soi cut some bamboo.

I cut 4 inch pieces and I use clay to seal the ends. 

Total new tubes amount to 25 tubes. 

about 20 days until cocoon harvest/cleaning

 This being Sept 27, there are about 20 days remaining until the end of

second week in October.  At that time I will harvest the cocoons.

The rainy season has begun

 In one more month the harvest of mason bee cocoons will happen.

taking my first steps with my 12 year old cousin watching the event

Think I have to call this out as cheating because my father was holding my hand to keep me steady on my feet.

water and bleach solution to clean mason bees (3 wildly different opinions)

 I have seen several solutions which are supposed to clean mason bee

cocoons.

1) mason bees for sale dot com

solution of cold water and bleach. Use approximately 1 tablespoon for every cup of water.

2) davidsuzuki.org

five per cent oxygen bleach solution. 

That is more that half a cup.  Are you kidding !!!!

3) bentonswcd.org/time-clean-mason-bee-cocoons/bleach.

1-2  teaspoons of household bleach into 1 gallon of water

---------------------------------

The range of concentration between these sources is CRAZY.  Personally, I would go with the

weakest solution which is number 3.  Last fall I used  a solution of 1 teaspoon in a gallon of water.

I could smell the bleach at that weak dilution.  I cannot imagine what a tablespoon of bleach would do in a CUP of water !

Found these instructions for washing cocoons in website masonbeesforsale.com The website is full of valuable information

HOW TO DISINFECT BEE COCOONS

Materials: container to wash bees in, paper towels, bleach, water, measuring tools.

1. Mix a solution of cold water and bleach. Use approximately 1 tablespoon for every cup of water.
2. Place cocoons in solution and agitate (move around) until all areas of the cocoons have been exposed to solution. Let sit in solution occasionally agitating cocoons for up to 20 min. (Cocoons can be submerged longer but 10-20 minutes does the job without harming the bees).
3. Remove cocoons and pat dry with paper towels. If any of the cocoons sank in the water throw them away. Sinking cocoons indicate that the bee did not form correctly and has died.
4. Place bees in clean bee safe and store in refrigerator.

Instructions in www.masonbeesforsale.com

here is another set of instructions (somewhat different)

https://davidsuzuki.org/queen-of-green/how-to-care-mason-bees-year-round/

Today is August 30 which is 46 days until October 15

 October 15 will be cocoon harvesting day.

MUST SEE page discussing mason bees terrific close up photos

https://organiccontrol.com/2020/11/10/mason-bees-for-christmas-2/

only 48 days until cocoon harvest

50 days until Oct 15

 I checked the condos today, and no damage has occurred.

Extension information

https://extension.oregonstate.edu/sites/default/files/documents/12281/masonbee.pdf

I like this extension document. Lots of good material.

count down 52 days from August 24 to October 15

 October 15 is the day the cocoons will be gathered from the

mason bee condos.

July 24, 2021

 Condos look good.  Waiting for October to harvest cocoons.

July 16, 2021 Bumble bees and honey bees

 Lots of bumble bees and honey bees visiting flowers. A fair number of wasps also in the yard.  It seems like my lavender is the most popular flower. The California poppy is also attractive to the bees but I have very few poppies compared with my lavender.  I constantly take cuttings and increase my lavender plants. 

July 8, 2021 Condo 4 about 18 or 19 tubes have filled tubes

 Condo 4

  The last of the condos is this number 4. Also quickly made. I used recycled mailing envelopes as a test.  We will see how well the tubes preformed.  The advantage seemed to be I could easily make the walls of the tubes very thick.  Many unfilled tubes seems to show that the end of the egg laying season was progressing.  

July 8, 2021 Condo 3 this overflow condo shows about one third filled tubes

 A quickly constructed house. Condo 1 was nearly filled so I put this up for the overflow near the end of the egg laying period. It was mounted directly beneath condo 1.  I tried making bundles of tubes because it appeared easier to seal the back ends and install the bundles as packages.

July 8, 2021 Condo 2 only about 7 tubes not completely filled

 Condo 2

Almost all tubes seemed fill. Only about 6 tubes appear empty. Not sure if the apparently empty tubes are just partially filled. Notice the thick piece of Styrofoam on the side of the condo.  This protects the bee cocoons from the hot western sun side. The roof material is Styrofoam but the roof is only about 1/4 inch thick.

july 8.2021 condo 1 nearly every tube filled

•  Essentially completely filled all tubes.  While a few appear empty, they may be just partially filled. We will see the facts when I tear them apart in October.  There are several tubes in the "attic" area of the condo. There is a backdoor to the attic so in October when I do the cocoon processing, we will see how many bees preferred a private tube room.  The attack area is directly in back of the white rectangle.

        In October I plan to make a cocoon processing video. Stay tuned.

• In O

July 5, 2021

 Cocoons are in their tubes just doing the metamorphosing thing.

In about 3 and a half months I will be opening the tubes.

July 2, 2021

 Heat wave has ended.  Condos are totally quiet. According to most sources, mason bees should not be expected after mid June. Sure enough, no bees now.

I still see plenty of bumblebees. Of course they will not use the mason bee condos.

June 29, 2021

 Heat wave continues.

Now I just keep an eye on things and wait for October 15.

June 26 2021

 Heat wave.  No way are any mason bees still flying.

Now all my bees are in cocoons and developing. I put screens over

the condos to protect against birds.

June 24, 2021

 Bees may be over for 2021.  Today I did not see even a single  bee.

June 22, 2021 Amazing

 Today I was inspecting the mason bee condos.  I observed one bee checking out condo number 4. 

She was the an amazing bee.  She is weeks after the bulk of the mason bee population.  I did not observe her entering a tube, but she was definitely alive .   

I will attempt to get photos of the mason bees which are still active, tomorrow.

June 20, 2021

 No more mason bee activity is being observed.  Both condos 1 and 2 are virtually full of completed tubes.  There are a few tubes which appear to be unused.  Condos 3 and 4 are only half full.

It will be interesting to see what contents (if any) reside in the apparently empty tubes. Maybe I can figure out if I made construction errors which contributed to the bees avoiding the empty tubes.

Harvesting of the tubes will occur on about October 15

May 21, 2021

 Well we are nearing the end of the mason bee life cycle, or ... the beginning, depending on your view point.

 All the adults will pass on to their reward about June 1.  I did see two nice and fat mason bees feeding on a stand of lavenders which are about 10 feet from the mason bee condos.  I suppose a few more tube will be filled but right now:

Condo #1  only 7 unfilled tubes😀

Condo #2  also only 7 unfilled tubes😀

Condo #3  have 21 filled tubes which is about 30%😩

Condo #4  have 12 filled tubes which is about 30%😩

May 17, 2021

According to a seller named  masonbeesforsale.com

 Summer bees (Leaf-cutter Bees) are getting ready to hatch out.  As long as your daytime temps are above 70 F.

 I  will watch for any new bees which arrive after June 5. I have no cocoons, so if any show up, it will be because the leaf-cutter bees have found the condos.

May 16, 2021

 No sign of houdini flies today. Now that was good news.

Basically Condo 1 has been full for several days now. Condo 2 is very close to full up.

Condos 3 and 4 are very active. I even witnessed a mason bee visiting a lavender flower.  I dont know where the mason bees usually go for pollen searches.  I do notice that when they return to the condos they normally return in groups of 4 or 5. There does seem to be some lever of cooperation.  I also see some fights which seem to be caused by competition for a particular tube.  

According to literature, all the mason bees will die around the first of June. I expect the process is winding down.

Another houdini fly bites the dust May 14, 2021

 I was checking on the mason bees and found a Houdini fly hovering around condo #3.

I squished it.

Bees are still very active. 15 tubes full in condo #3.  Only about 7 full in condo #4.

May 13, 2021

 Killed another Houdini bee today.  Hip hip, hurrah.

Well, condo #1 is totally filled. Yet I still see die hard bees searching for an open tube. They love condo #1.  Finally, bees are

making the obvious move to condo #3.  While there are only a few filled tubes, many tubes have bees coming and going.  The same is true for condo#2 and condo#4.

As condo#2 fills up, they are aggressively moving to condo#4.

Glad I built condos 3 and 4 or there would be no tubes available.

I dont know what flowers are most attractive to the mason bees. The large stand of blueberry bushes are very near the bee condos. Yet the bees I see working on the blueberry bushes are mostly bumblebees. I see very few honey bees.  The most common bees is a small bumblebee. I do see a huge bumblebee occasionally.

But the mason bees are missing from the blueberries.  Since the blueberries are almost all of the flowers in my yard, I don't know where the mason bees are working.

One behavior which interests me is that these mason bees which are supposed to be solitary, certainly seem to have some communal behaviors.  I notice that many bees arrive at the condos at the same time. It would appear the bees are visiting flowers together and returning to the condos together.  I also notice that some bees know exactly which tube is their own.  Yet, some bees cannot seem to figure out which tube belongs to them.  Maybe some bees are just stupid.

  

May 12, 2021

 I killed 3 Houdini flies today. I killed every one I saw.

A Houdini fly looks like a fruit fly. It hangs around the tubes

waiting for an unsuspecting mason bee to leave a cache of pollen.

Sooo, I hang around the condo waiting for a Houdini fly to land

in a vulnerable place. Then whap ! No more Houdini fly.

Condo #1 is totally full. Condo #2 is about 90% full.

Bees are taking full advantage of the two new condos.

I estimate I will harvest about 1,000 cocoons in October.

I usually figure the average number of cocoons per tube is

roughly 3.  Some tubes have as many as 6 cocoons and some are

loaded with parasites.  But the average is about 3.

May 11, 2021

 Activity on the new Condo#3 is very high. Activity on condo#4 continues to be low.  

Bees continue to work on filling up Condo#2. 

Saw one Houdini fly. I killed it.

May 7, 2021 I do not know what happened

 I had a post on May 7 but it got erased. I wonder what happened?

It sure would help to know what causes a post to get erased.

So , it is gone.  Wonder what wonderful thing I said?

May 9, 2021 Condo#1 99% full; Condo#2 90% full

 This being May 9, it is reasonable to see both of the main condos almost full.  

The condo#3 does have a few finished tubes (all of the bamboo). The bees are working on many paper tubes but no paper tube is yet complete.

Condo#4 is totally comprised of paper tubes and while there is some activity, no tube is yet complete.

Once again, I saw no Houdini flies. I guess my killing off of adults over the past several weeks plus squishing maggots in October has lead to a scarcity of adults this spring.

May 6, 2021

 I have made a few tubes but not enough yet to mount in the new condos.

Maybe a few hours this evening will produce enough to load up the new

condos.

May 5, 2021 Adding two condos. One basically complete and one under construction

Very few tubes are left unfilled in Condo #1. Condo #2 may have 20% unfilled, so I have a few days to get the new condos mounted.

May 4, 2021

 The bees keep on keeping on. Both Condo #1 and Condo #2 continue

to be very active.  While Condo #3 does have some limited activity,

the bees have yet to get serious.  Basically they can smell the heavy

populations in the other condos, so they stay there.  One wonders what

causes a bee to branch out to Condo #3.

Did not see any Houdini flies today.

Tonight I plan to make a few tubes for installation in condo #3 and in the new Condo #4.

May 3, 2021

 Bees have definitely discovered Condo #3.

I found a Houdini fly hanging around Condo #2. I squished it.

But I only saw the one fly.

May 2, 2021 Supercalifragilisticexpialidocious Mason bee

 Some extremely narrow minded mason bees continue to refuse to leave condo #1. Several bees have started using tubes in the new Condo #3. 

In any case, Condo #1 is almost totally full. There are a few bamboo tubes in condo #3,  so, of course, some bees are targeting those tubes first.I used recycled envelopes for the paper tubes. 

Condo #2 continues to be busy.  I found a nasty Houdini fly hanging resting on the condo. I used my index finger to squish the nasty parasite.  I only saw the one individual Houdini fly today.

I have an additional condo in the works. The framework is complete. I need to make paper tubes.  I think I have a few days because condo #2 is still only about 80 % full.

May the First 2021

 The tubes in Condo #1 are almost all full. Condo #2 is probably about 85% full.

at top of condo#1 are two vertical slots. Inside the

slots are several tubes. bees have been entering and leaving the slots.

As a response, I built a third Condo. I mounted it right below Condo #1.

Last evening I inspected Condo #3. I saw one tube which may be full. I need to reinspect today. Hopefully, the bees will accept my fast and dirty condo construction.  I do have a fourth condo under construction but I will go a little slow to make the tubes with a bit more precision.

The paper used in the tubes of condo #3 are fashioned from recycled envelopes.  I wonder if mason bees want to participate in a recycling program.

Late this afternoon I noticed a bee checking out the new condo. After

examining many tubes she finally found one and went in. I saw no other bees working condo#3.  They seem focused on using the last few tubes in condo#1.   

New Mason Bee Condo being built April 28, 2021

 The two existing bee condos are filling up very fast. As a result, today I began building a third condo.

The structure is basically complete. The next step will take days as I install tubes.

27 April 2021

 The number of vacant tubes are so few that I may have to build a third mason bee condo.  My bees look extremely healthy. The flowers around my place must be very happy.

TOP SECRET

 This blog may be one of the least viewed blog on the internet. That is OK.  The main reason for this blog is to simply keep track of my mason bee husbandry.

April 25, 2021

 Bees, bees and more bees.  I fear that the tubes are filling up so quickly that I will need to quickly put together a third mason bee condo.

I examined the cocoon cache today. I saw not cocoons which remain intact. I appears that all bees have emerged.

My blueberry bushes are in full bloom. The mason bees are taking full advantage of the blueberry flowers.

April 23, 2021

 Saw a few Houdini flies today. Tried to kill them, unfortunately I was not successful. 

The tubes at this point seem to be well over 50 percent complete. 

For the tubes which are not complete, the bees were very busy entering and leaving tubes.  In the case of Condo#1 I was amazed to see the center section paper tubes are nearly all full. 

April 22, 2021

 Wow the bees are really in full swing.  Soooo many bees.  The tubes are now filling up. It looks like it is possible that every tube will be soon filled.

Look carefully, it appears well over half of the tubes are filled.

Note the thick piece of Styrofoam on the left  wall of the condo. This protects the condo from excess heat from late afternoon sun..

April 21, 2021

 No Houdini flies today.  Tubes are filling up. Even the paper tubes are becoming quite popular. 

It is really impressive to see the virtual swarm of bees around the condos.  At any one time I commonly see 5 or 6 bees coming and going.

When a bee exits a tube, they move very fast.  The mason bee defense is speed and stealth since they have no stinging defense.

April 20, 2021

 No Houdini files seen today. I will keep watching out for the

Houdinis. I did notice some dried mud on the front floor of condo#1.

I hope it is not Houdinis mining their way out of a tube.

I estimate more than half of bamboo tubes are filled. Many paper tubes are filled.  I expect the large number of mason bees and the limited availability of bamboo tubes are causing this.

April 19, 2021 This will be a bumper crop.

 The condos are filling up.  I saw a hideous Houdini (Cacoxenus indagator) fly snooping around condo#1 today. The fly was flying around then lit on the bottom I hit with my hand and killed it.   Houdini flies resemble fruit flies in size. 

So I found two more Houdini flies. They may be called Houdini but they are the stupidest flies. Just wait from them to land on a wall and swat them. Easy to kill.  You must kill every single one you can find. 

I suspect the Houdini fly has no local predators...except ME. That is why they do not expect the fly swatter.  Where ever they come from the technology of "fly swatter" does not exist. You can also use the tip of your index finger,,, as long as you are quick.

Bamboo tubes continue to be favored over the paper tubes. None the less, as the bamboo tubes fill up, the bees do go for the paper tubes.

If the bees fill tubes with a high average number of cocoons , there could be over 500 cocoons. If that is the case, I will need to add one or two condos next spring.

The bamboo tubes are filling up. Bees are using paper tubes, but always seem to choose bamboo if there is a perfect size available.

April17, 2021 Busy bees and Houdini flies

 The mason bees are very busy.  However, I spotted two Houdini flies.

I attempted to vacuum up the Houdini files. I think I got them.e 

But the vigor of the Mason bees is amazing. The bees are using paper tubes but they definitely favor the bamboo tubes.  I suspect if I did not offer bamboo tubes, they might condescend to the paper tubes. But it is easy to see, the bees prefer bamboo.

April 15, 2021 Swarming is what it looks like.

At any time in early afternoon, there are around 5 or 6 bees flying around the condos.

Both condos now have about a dozen filled tubes.  Bees seem to continue to select bamboo tubes over paper.

I have yet to see a single Houdini fly. 

April 14, 2021 Bees are virtually swarming

 I checked out the cocoon cache and was amazed to see many (if not most) are broken open.

I was surprised to see many of the bees taking advantage of the paper tubes.  About half of the tubes are paper and half are bamboo.  I am always interested in watching the bees emerging from a tube then turning around.

April 13, 2021 Bees really busy today. Amazing really. Several videos showing April Mason Bee activity

 Both condos are extremely active.  Condo #1 has 4 filled tubes. Condo #2 has 4 filled tubes, as well. Bees are really busy today.

I expect to see several filled tubes in a few days.

I continue to not see any Houdini flies. My handheld vac is at the ready if any of those nasty criminals show  up.

April 12, 2021 Lots of bees, lots of activity and good weather

 The bees are really humming now. Four tubes in condo #1 are filled. Although I could not find one filled tube in condo#2.

Both condos are constantly buzzed in the early afternoon. The bees are using some of the paper tubes, although a casual inspection seems to favor the bamboo tubes. 

April 10, 2021 Bees Bees Bees

 Bees very active today.  Many bees entering tubes.

Bees are looking good.

April 9 , 2021

 Too cold for bees today.  I saw none.

April 8, 2021 Heavy mason bee activity all over my yard. It looks like over winter survival was excellent.

I have dozens of Daffodil flowers which are probably contributing to the mason bees pollen.  I have only observed a few bumble bees. Some people are saying bumble populations are crashing. I think it is too early in the spring to conclude that.

Heavy activity at Condo #2.  Moderate activity at Condo #1.

Only the one tube in condo#2 is yet filled.  A casual observance indicates most bees are choosing bamboo. However, I did see several bees enter the paper type tubes. 

No sign yet of any Houdini flies. I intend to attack them with a handheld vacuum, if I see any.

April 7, 2021

 Raining and cold today. No bees active and neither am I.

April 6, 2021 Mason Bees active on both Condos today

 Today is a first.  The first filled tube was seen in Condo #1 today.

Of course, the tube turned out to be a bamboo tube.  Most tubes observed being occupied were bamboo but I did see a few paper tubes being visited.

Some people who sell rolled cardboard tubes say bamboo is no good.

Well, it is not difficult to tear apart the bamboo tubes at the end of the season. Yes, it is a pain. But tearing apart the tubes is essential.  You can easily identify the parasites and kill them. Then you wash the cocoons in a very diluted solution of fresh water and bleach.  

April 5, 2021 Lots and lots of mason bees were active today. However, no tubes are yet filled.

Mason bees were buzzing today.  Of course, the mason bee is extremely quick so it is difficult to count them. 

The broken cocoons indicate several dozen bee are flying around. So far, I have not seen any of the Houdini flies.  I hope there are none.

This  cocoon cache is about 3 inches deep.

 

Fourth of April 2021

 Not many bees have been observed but I always see two or three everyday buzzing the condos. As reported previously, Condo#2 is by far the most active.

April Fools day dont fall for stupid pranks

 Judging from the number of broken-open cocoons, there are many free mason bees out in the area.  However, I do not see more than one or two

flying around the condos.  It certainly may be possible that the bees have found nesting sites which they are using elsewhere in the neighborhood.

Google the following

mason bees species in king county