March 24 Sunday Mason Bee Update

According to several sites, the diameter for Mason and leafcutter bees
range from

Diameter

• 4/16 inch (6.35 mm) (or 1/4")
• 5/16 inch
• 6/16 inch (9.525 mm) (or 3/8")

So, the measurements will be from 6 mm to 10 mm I wrapped the paper around pencils. That turned out to be way too big. Bees seem to have avoided anything except the small holes.

I plan to use a variety of dowels to roll paper & ensure I get a range of sizes.

For next year, I will be preparing tubes in a range of diameters. The experts seem to
say that bamboo is not so good. That may be true, but the mason bees seem to prefer
the bamboo. The routed out wood trays have thus far only one bee.

Also, I intend to make some smaller ones because the first tube filled in my

condo-2 was a bit smaller than 1/4 inch.

I intend to make a few small ones and large ones as a test. 5 mm and 11 mm.

Of course, I will mark them with a black marker to indicate the "outlier" sized tubes.

I look at this effort partly following instructions and partly experimental.

on my "wonderful bees" youtube channel, I have posted a video showing the clay mud
I mixed up for the bees. It is a very light color of gray so maybe I will be able to tell which
bees actually use it for their cocoon nest tube.

observations.

I notice that sometimes a mason bee approaches the condo but just loiters around for a couple of minutes and then fly away.

In some cases, two bees will seem to engage in a dog fight and then one or both leave the area.