April 16, 2020 Bees are working hard. Some bees use lots of care finishing each tube.

Condo#2 only has about 8 filled tubes but the residents are really making progress.
The black plastic shield on back of condo is there to add to heat for Condo#2

Many annuals provide pollen for  my bees.  Mostly tulips in this area.

April 15, 2020 Each condos update 8 tubes now filled👍👍

I have read that the bees work from dawn to dark.  That is why I see so many filled tubes by
the time I inspect the next day.  I estimate I see one bee hit the condo about each 15 seconds.


Some of the tubes are short so hard to see. So the total number of tubes

filled may be a few more than I can actually observe.  Typical activity today

 is 3 or 4 bees at a time buzzing  the condo. Condo#1 continues to appear 

the busiest but number of filled tubes is the same for both dwellings. Males

 are hanging around but I thing all mates have been found.  

As you see, the mason bee does not stick around long. Since they have no stinger, they must defend themselves by speed and stealth.

Tulips blooming, mason bees are welcome

Asian pear (20th Century) Mason bees are all over this puppy.

Rainier cherry in full bloom. Nice white cherry. Next to this tree is a bing cherry.
The bing cherry has buds but no blossoms yet.

Top hat variety of blueberry in full bloom. Mason bees love this.

April 14, 2020 Mason bees are😀 buzzing😀

Impressive how the bees are taking advantage of the routed-out wood trays. The more bees taking advantage of routed-out wood trays, the less work for me in October. All I need to do is open the tray and wash the little "buggers". Working on bamboo tubes is much more labor intensive.

April 13, 2020 24 carat Gold bricks are residents of Condo#1

Now condo#2 residents have finished 3 tubes.  Yet Condo#1 has yet to
finish even one tube,  There is limited activity at Condo#2 but there is
 some traffic. I will not be surprised if condo#2 adds yet another filled
tube by tomorrow.

Lots of activity in condo#1.  Bees appear very busy.  I think residents
of Condo#1 are a bunch of gold bricks.  They are just not getting the
job done.

6pm
Ok, here are the raw stats:
       Condo#1 finally has some filled tubes, 4 tubes
and Condo#2 has run up the score to 5 tubes.

I think the reason for Condo#2 performance may be the pear trees which
are currently in full bloom and are only 15 feet away.

If I can get a high  percentage of both condos loaded, I may have several
hundred cocoons by October harvesting.

The only difference I can think can make a difference between the two
condos is that Condo#2 gets morning sun.  Maybe the few hours of
morning sun contributes to more eggs being laid.  But by noon, Condo#1
 is getting some sun and the activity at Condo#1 amounts to 3 bees
constantly coming and going.

In October 2019, I removed all cocoons from the bamboo tubes. I rinsed
them off in a very dilute solution of bleach and water.  The result clearly
 was good.  This fall I will pay closer attention to the concentration and
 the length of time for the wash and rinse,

It turns out my storage of the cocoons in the breathable plastic cloth worked,
 I covered the bag with 1/4 inch hardware cloth.  I am going to have to rebuild
 the condos this fall/winter.  Condo#1 is not built very sturdy.   In fact, if I get
 a bumper crop of cocoons I may need to add a condo to the mix.

If I add a condo to the network, I will have to use paper tubes. I just do not
have enough bamboo to make up the number of tubes required.  One
bamboo branch will make only about 10 tubes.  My bamboo plants
dont produce more than 10 branches per year.

If  my bees grow from the cocoon count of 75 at the beginning of this season.
Let's assume 50% of the cocoons are male and 50% are female.
If 37 females  each produce 30 bees, then next year we will have
1,100 bees which will mean 550 females next spring.
I am going to set up houses next year to accomodate 600 bees.  (provide a little
extra room)

Going to have to get to work.

April 12, 2020 First nooner witnessed today.

Starting a new page for April 12, 2020

Super active bees going in and out of tubes in Condo#1.
However, no filled tubes in Condo#1. Some bees are opting for using
computer paper and cardboard tubes . Still the majority of bees choose
black bamboo tubes. I think they know those are the most pricey.

Condo#2 has a 2nd filled tube.  Of course it is a black bamboo.
I see very little activity around Condo#2.

If I stand near Condo#2 for more than 20 seconds in early afternoon,
I will always see bee activity.  I even saw a couple mating around noon.
Guess you would have to classify that as a nooner.  First time I have
seen mason bees so engaged.

April 11, 2020

No new filled tubes but bees are sticking their little heads out of the
tubes when I go on an inspection tour.   Activity level is high with three or
four bees coming and going within a 5 minute inspection period.

Most of the bees appear good size.  Although I don't have measurements, they
appear on the large side.

Looking into the cocoon bag, it appears that all the bees have emerged.

Every cocoon appears to have a large hole
I have noticed bees entering every type of tube:

parchment paper, cardboard , routed wood, bamboo tubes and computer
paper

I look forward to mid October when I will open all the tubes.

I don't think the bees have any idea what is going on regarding corona virus.

I suspect they are immune from the effects of the nasty covig19 virus.

April 10, 2020. Condo#2 gets the award for having 1st filled tube

First filled tube. Amazing it is in

condo #2

Do not see many bees flying around the area, but obviously

at least one bee has been busy.

April 9, 2020 Condo #1 has bees but condo #2 vacant

It is puzzling that Only condo#1 has  bees.
The condo#2 is on a wall which faces south. But it gets morning and afternoon
sun from both east and west.

Whereas condo#1 only gets some southern sun (after noon) and gets full sun
from the west  after noon.

The experts say east and south is the best position but my bee condos do
not seem  to validate that opinion.

The mason bees in my area seem to prefer full west exposure with half a day
southern sun.


Condo #1 gets lots of mason bee activity after 1 pm.

One thing I do not like is the appearance of  several very small ants.  I am
 wondering if these ants will cause a problem.

April 8, 2020 lots of bees today mason bees are open for business

A photograph of a bunch of  descendents of Swiss immigrants.

Most of these people were Mennonites. They lived all over the midwest and came together for a huge family reunion. The women in this photo were some of the best cooks in the United States at that time.   

Not one of the people in this photograph had any idea that someday their likeness would be published so anyone in the world could see it.

Most of the people in this picture (if not all) came to this reunion by one of two means of transportation, 1.) horse 2.) train     There were no automobiles and no airplanes.

The most important man in this photograph was John Dettweiler.

Watch the video closely.  Bees sometimes enter a tube , quickly exit and then find another tube. The reason is each female has a unique odor and she cannot STAND the smell of another female. So they get confused and go into the wrong tube. The smell is terrible so she exits quickly.  They appear to be quite confused regarding which is the correct tube. 

If you watch a condo for awhile, you will find the behavior quite humorous.

Amazing , the mason bees are using  the
Routed wood tubes this year. Last year they totally avoided them. In a few minutes i saw a
dozen flying around condo #1 and several entering and leaving tubes.
I don't think these bees know anything about virus problems. For sure they don't have any fear of parasites.  At the end of the season I have to break open the bamboo or paper tubes and discard cocoons which have been attacked by parasites.  Such cocoons must be destroyed because survival of the parasites will just cause more problems the next year.

I have much more activity this year than last year, I am optimistic , it looks like I will be able to harvest many times last year's small yield. I counted about 50 healthy cocoons.

April 07, 2 0 2 0 Mason Bees active but not overwhelming

I watched today as Bee Condo #1 was visited by 4 mason bees.
One of the bees, obviously a large female, rested on a seat about ten
feet from Bee Condo #1.

As usual, no bees were observed in the area around Bee Condo #2.

The weather was in high 50s (F) so we should be seeing filled tubes soon.

As yet not one tube is filled.

APRIL 5, 2 0 2 0

Several mason bees hovered around condo #1. Condo #2 continues to be avoided,

One large (obvious female mason bee hung on a west facing wall.

I have seen two cases where bees are leaving tubes. But I have yet to see any finished

tubes.

The photo which we see here shows how she does not look like a fly. Notice her
wings are held straight back while she is at rest.  Her color is basically black with some
fancy iridescents,   She is not anywhere near the first bee this year.  I am going to name
her Carol in honor of my sister. 

Some people say that a mason bee resembles a house fly. Not really. A house fly at rest hold its wings so that the animal
almost looks like a triangle. A mason be folds its wings straight back so it does not look like a triangle.

Mason bees fly fast and dart in random directions. By the way, small wolf spiders hang around the condo and look for an opportunity
to jump on a bee. Take a fly swatter and get rid of the monsters.

April 4, 2 0 2 0 Bees are on the move

Now it is Close to 2pm. On april 4.

Today i am seeing 2 to 4 bees at same time hovering around condo #1
No bees around condo#2

I discovered that observation of mason bees Is best from about 40 feet.
Mason bees are very skittish.

If the see any movement of a person closer than 30 feet

They just fly away.

Saw a small wolf spider on condo#1. I killed it.

In summary lots of bees today.
Temperature today is close to 60 F
I have also seen a few other hymenoptera around the place. On hummingbird bee, one honey bee
and a few bumble bees.
Things are looking up for the bees.

April 3, 2 0 2 0

I am still here still reporting on my bees.

WIll be going outside to count bees in a few hours

April 02, 2 0 2 0 cool weather continues

Just another cool day. Temperature is about 48 degrees F.
No mason bees are hanging around today. I have no idea where
the cute little rascals hide but they are not anywhere near
the mason bee condos.

I continue to hole up to avoid the chit-hole virus. People do walk around the
neighborhood, but no one stops to have a conversation. It looks like
everyone assumes the other person is a potential zombie.

No fooling

The mason bee condo #1
had three or four bees buzzing
The entry had one bee leaving a tube as i watched.
It has been in low 50s for
several days.
Maybe I can get videos in a few days.

March 31, 2 0 2 0 Bees !

I watched today as 3 mason bees struggled their way out of the cocoon.

After a few minutes, one bee took off like a shot. Then about an hour later
I saw her hanging on to the wall about 6 feet above her condo.

No tubes have yet to be filled. I have seen one bee enter a tube but I lost patience
and did not wait for her to emerge.

March 30, 2 0 2 0 Mason bees are missing

No mason bees today. There is far to much rain. It also continues to be cool. We are going to have to see some warm weather
and some dry days. I did have some bees emerge from cocoons a few days ago, but now there are no new bees.

Wish I could report better news.

I wonder if I should report fake news. Maybe the mason bees like fake news. I could make up statistics and say the bees
are doing something bad. Might be exciting.

march 29, 2 0 2 0

No bees , too cold
Spent my day studying radio theory

March 28

No bees today
It is cool and raining
Not great weather.
Very few blueberry blossoms.

March 27 cool weather, light rain

No bee activity of any kind,
Inspection of the bee condos resulted in no filled tubes.

The cool weather and light rain seems to be keeping the bees rather dormant.

Sure hope the temperature rises.

March 25 Times are crazy

Mason bees must be hiding from the rain. Besides it is not very warm. 40 to 50 degrees F is just
not good for bees. They like 60.

Have not seen a mason bee in two days.

April 12 I am the Network station for the Federal Way Wa Emergency Radio group. I will power
up my station at 7:30 pm and go through the preamble and the various sections of the
call.

March 23, 2 0 2 0 Monday so much rain

So much rain today, not worth checking the bee condos.
Will check tomorrow.

March 22

See 4 mason bees hovering above bee condo #1
They cling to wall approx 8  Feet above nest.
Temp 60F
Time 1:54 pm
Good activity  today. Seeing bees entering tubes.
Even using the routed trays. Very encouraging.
Bees tend to rest about 8 feet above bee condo.
Watched a bee emerging. That was a happy event.
After emerging she flew away.
All the rest of the bag is setup for easy escape.

.Hopefully they are out there pollinating and breeding

March 21, 2 0 2 0 Mason bees enjoying the warm spring day

I saw mason bees today. Not really possible to catch them in a photograph unless there are

many because they just fly so fast.  They are skittish.  Since they have no stinger, the fast flying behaviour is their defense.  

Seeing some mason bees.

Encouraging,     this bag of cocoons comes from my collection of bees out of the bamboo in October

flowers on "winter daphnia" very fragrant flowers.
I have 3 of these bushes. I think the bees like them.

"

my mason bee bag is protected from the nasty birds with the quarter inch hardware cloth
There are live bees in the bag. I have the top open to allow escape.

  I also open the bag wide to make it easiest to get out.

March 2 0, 2 0 2 0

A very nice mason bee was darting about condo-1 today.
No tubes have been filled and I did not witness a bee entering
a tube.
But with only one bee surveying the tubes, it is likely I will not see the real
activity for a few days.
Temperature was over 60 degree F today. Lots of sun.
I am optimistic that more bees will show up soon.

March 19, 2 0 2 0

NEWS
I saw an insect up on the wall where condo-1 is located.
The insect was so far away that I could not be 100% certain
but I think it was a mason bee.
I think it was a female because of its size (a bit on the large size).
It has been in 60 F so I think this may be the beginning

Night time temperatures are around 40 degrees F at night
and around 55 to 60 during day time.

These are good temperatures for mason bees.

So far I have seen only a few small wasps and one mason bee.

The mason bee I saw was certainly from my bees saved from
October 2019 because he was in the bag.

I look forward to finding mason bees any day now. I will check around the
bee condos every day.

I have a dozen medium sized blueberry bushes of various varieties.
In all my bushes there are only about 7 flowers are in bloom.

The bees may know the flowers are not in bloom and the bees may
be waiting for the flowers.

I do have many other flowers:  bleariana plum, daffodils (dozens), crocus, winter daphne,
HYACINTHS AND GRAPE HYACINTHS.
So there are plenty of flowers. Just no bees.

This is a terrible situation, older people are stuck at home. A virus lurks in the
bodies of any number of people walking around loose.  I cant imagine
when the world will get back to pre 2020  times.

March 18, 2020 Day after St Patricks day NO BEES NO BEES

Going outside to check on the mason bees (MB)

I will snap a photo if I see one
Stay tuned  1:51 pm
I spent about a half hour looking for mason bees. No activity at all.
This is real disappointing.
a
I  about 30 cocoons from last fall. Yet it only appears that one emerged.
Today it got up to 60 F degrees.
I saw few small wasps but nothing else. No bumble bees, no honey bees and
worst of all no mason bees.

              seems warm enough, BTW, you may wonder why I put  hardware cloth over the thermometer,  The reason 

          is racoons are very active in this area,  they think it is necessary to knock it                              down,  so I protect the device 

watched for activity for 20 minutes, alas, NOTHING

great x?? grandfather

March 17, 2020 5;36 pm St Patrick's Day

I thought the mason bees emergence would be important
No, not significant, so far it didn't happen

I thought Pi day would be important, it wasn't

I though the Ides of March would be important, it wasn't

The only thing of significance has been the lousy corona virus.
Hope it doesn't affect my bees.😈
Midday temperatures have been consistently 50 F  or slightly higher
What ever I write , no one reads.

Walking around the yard and inspecting the mason bee condos I saw no
mason bees.  I did see an flying insect about the size of a mason bee high up
on the wall near the mason bee condos, but I could not see if it was a housefly
or a mason bee. It was just too far away.

I checked the bag of cocoons to see if there was any movement. None seen.

I have read that it is a bad idea to purchase mason bee cocoons by mail because it
can contribute to spreading mason bee diseases and parasites.
So I am just going to stand pat.  They either want my condos or they don't.

March 16, 2020

Not a single bee yet,
It is just too cold

The corona virus is shutting down everything.

Our radio club has no place to meet.

THE IDES OF MARCH March 15, 2020

Well 3.14 is over and the weather has not been warm enough to encourage
any mason bees to emerge in my yard.

The temperature was at 50 degrees F. But that was a high not an average.

I hope I can see some mason bees soon.

Well, the mason bees ignored the illustrious Pi Day. I will be searching all day
to see if a mason bee will show up on this famous (infamous depending on whether
or not you are/were a fan of Julius Caesar) day.

here is Pi So now is after midnight Happy pi day !

http://www.pi314.net/eng/index.php

Pi squared (Π²) is 9.8696…, which, if you round to 9.87 and ignore the decimals, is 987, the 17th number of the Fibonacci series

MARCH 13 one more day until Pi day it is coming MARCH 14

Yes indeed just one more day until Pi day
Yes indeed just one more day until Pi day
No bees yet

3.14
March 14
Einsteins birthday
big deal

Mason bees love pi day,,, no note Pie day,  Pi day

I love my mason bees
My bee condos are ready for occupation
Not a bee in sight

3.1415926535 8979323846 2643383279 5028841971 6939937510 5820974944 5923078164 0628620899 8628034825 3421170679

I must have cut at least a dozen bamboo sticks.  Once cut , I need to
cut to the 4 to 5 inch length. Then if the stick is at a node, the node has
to be trimmed so they can be stacked.  I probably have one third of the tubes
made out of parchment paper.   Last year, the bees avoided the parchment
paper.  

It is not difficult to remove the bees from the bamboo. Just crack the tube at the front
and then break it open.  Dump the cocoons onto a large clean cloth.  The
the bees get a quick wash with a VERY dilute solution of  bleach in water.
I have to get all the yellow pollen off and make sure the cocoons look healthy.
I keep them in a box on the north side of my shed. That way they are shaded and
I cover the bag with quarter inch hardware cloth.

March 11, 2020

Still cold . Looked for mason bees and found none.
My bee condos are open for business. This is March 11
3 more days until  Pi day


This corona virus thing is making a mess out of everything.  Hope my mason
bees don't worry about it.

3.1
4  Pi day is coming

I am attempting to sell trout flys on ebay.
I will report on success or failure.

March 10, 2020

No bees yet.
4 day until pi day
All Mason Bees celebrate the day by emerging.
At least I think that is why they emerge on the day.
Probably some connection with Albert Einstein who
shares his birthday with March 14.

Can't help but wonder if Julius Ceasar thought there
was anything special about the day before the Ides
of March.

March 6, 2020 The world wide celebration of Pi day approaches

3.14 is a milestone day for mason bees.  They all know about it.

March 6 is the count down to 8  for March 14

Mason bees may be small but they are powerful pollinators.

I don't expect any bees until 3.14 but I will keep a look out.

There were a grand sum total of zero today.

I use a chromebook to update this blog. I also use my smart phone for most photos.
I will be sure to take a photo of a corona virus if I see one. Of course, I will only take
a picture of a corona virus if I can recognize it.  Maybe I ought to be realistic?
People remark that mason bees do not sting.From my observations the mason bee
does not need to sting. The fly very fast. They dont stay long in one spot

Has anyone every heard of Alexander Ulrice? He would have been born between 1841 to 1861. He would have lived in Mecosta, Michigan between 1881-1882.

I plant lots of flowers which are scheduled for early spring.

May 5, 2020

The air temperature on Monday-Tues and Wednesday are supposed to be all highs over
50(F).  Three days in a row seems to signal the little rascals to get busy.
We will see.

winter daphne flowers, extremely fragrant

both condos ready for new tenants

white plastic mesh containing pupae  protected by 1/4 inch mesh hardware cloth

On 3.14 I may drink canada dry.

May 4 2020

shaaaarooooooom

No bees today

Palm in Austin Texas, big flower coming out

Coyote in the park.

here are a few fun photos
We put a few plastic coyotes in the park to scare off the Canadian geese.
It is not totally effective, but the geese tend to avoid our park as a result

Some people call these shrooms.  The are not really safe to eat. 

I raised some of my yuccas from seed. But this one(above) I cheated and purchased it from a local nursery.

march 3rd, 2020

Full view of the first condo installed.
The plastic keeps the condo dry in the
worst rain storm,

No bees today, it was way too cold.
The first day where no frost is guaranteed in April 3.
That may be true, but I think Pi day will be pretty good.
I see a few common flies but, so far, I only saw two mason
bees on March 1.
This year I have a mix of parchment paper tubes and fresh black bamboo
tubes.  I cut the bamboo from my garden. I only get about 20 new shoots
per year, so next spring I will have a problem. I estimate I need twice that
many for my two mason-bee-condos.   Maybe I will need to rely on
more parchment paper.

This year none of  mason bees are in tubes. In October 2019 I
took all the bamboo tubes and split them open.  I carefully
put the cocoons in a basket and then washed them with a very
dilute solution of bleach and water.  Then I stored them in a shaded
area on the wall of my shed.  I kept them  the white plastic cloth
which allows plenty of ventilation.

Just waiting for the emergence now.

I don't expect much until Albert Einstein's birthday (March 14 aka pi day).

Only 11 days now.

The Corona virus is the talk of the town. Stores which sell household supplies
are busy.  The biggest think seems to be toilet paper.   There is a crazy rumor
that supplies will be unavailable. I don't understand why but the hoarders are cleaning
up all packages as soon as the stores put them out. 

The problem with the corona virus for people over 70 seems to be it can be fatal.
We will see. So far about 6 people have died in Washington, all over 70.

I have been trying to get my radio shack setup.

I am sure there are already enough flowers to support the first mason bees.
Photos show  yellow and white daffodils, winter daphne and some crocus.

daffodils

winter daphne shrub, flowers are extremely fragrant

White daffodils with yellow centers
The mason bees should be able to find plenty of nectar and pollen.

March 2nd, 2020

It is rather cold today.  So no mason bee activity.

The condos are complete and the bees have been released.

I will just keep an eye on the situation.

The temperature has to get to 50 degrees F .

Only 48 degrees today.  Got to be at least 50 F

In two weeks  we will probably get there.

March - 1st - condo-installed today

Today I installed the second condo today.
Only 13 days to Pi day.  Bees love March 14.
They like the fact their emergence is celebrated.
The bee pupas are set out near the condos.  Distance is about
five feet,.

Add caption

mud for the bees. This is made out of cat litter,

white mesh sack. it is open to let the mason bees out. the 1/4 inch screen protects the bees from birds

bag of pupae, one already emerged. Will keep an eye on this every dau

a

Add caption

When I opened the bee sack, I saw one bee already emerged.
As a result, I just set the bag out and opened. I covered the open bag
with 1/4 inch hardware cloth.

I will be watching closely over the next few days.

I have noticed 2 bees buzzing the condos.  Probably both males because
they are small and it is quite early. (Males emerge first.)

Below are photos taken today

count down to Pi Day This is February 27

17    This is February 27
Soon the festivities will begin as all adherents to the Pi Day celebrations look to that
marvelous day.
March 14 will soon be here    3.14
Mason bees love Pi Day

February 27,2020 First condo is installed for March 2020.

First condo is installed for March 2020.
I am focusing on using black bamboo this year. I plan to watch my little
bees every day.
Will report news of the first bees to arrive.

😎😎
I am working on the second condo. These bee condos chew up many bamboo
sticks.  I only use well blackened sticks. I have read that irregular sizes and lengths
are appreciated.  I do have some bee pupas from last year.  I don't know how well
I kept them. I will release them very soon.

Feb 23 2020

added a few bamboos today
I will be gluing the tubes to the condos in
a few days