Spring 2017 UPDATE: Orchard Mason Bee Observation House (TheBeesWaggle)

Spring 2017 UPDATE: Orchard Mason Bee Observation House (TheBeesWaggle) Review

Buy it at Amazon: Spring 2017 UPDATE: Orchard Mason Bee Observation House (TheBeesWaggle) [Affiliate Link]

Takeaway: Some residents have taken up inside the bee htoel! Let's find out what the cocoons look like.

4/24/17 UPDATE: Just a quick recap, I put out the bee house a little late in the season last year towards the end of July 2016, and in October I saw there were some larva in mud chambers. I left the house out all winter and this week I saw the first mud walls were broken through. I took the house inside the clean it out. The winter weather has worn down the house a bit. It's a weathered gray and the wood is beginning to crack a bit. However, the hardware seems in good condition. The first mud chambers are empty, but after opening up the viewing panels I found some more developing pupae. They don't exactly look like mason bees because they don't have the signature silk cocoon, however, when I removed them they started to move, so I know they're still alive.

Only one of them looks like a fully developed bee. I'm assuming the others pupae are mason wasps because I've seen wasps collecting mud around my yard during the summer, but they're still good pollinators so I'll let them mature. I transferred all the pupae to a cup which I'll cover and I cut an escape hole in so when they finish maturing they can emerge. I cleaned out the house so new eggs can be lain in the current season. It seems like the bee house was sort of a success for last season. A pollinator is a pollinator right? I'll be curious to see if I'll get different residents since my timing this year is much earlier. Here's to hoping for solitary bees this year.

Buy it at Amazon: Spring 2017 UPDATE: Orchard Mason Bee Observation House (TheBeesWaggle) [Affiliate Link]

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