March 6, 2014…Cocoons transferred from refrigerator to this “Launch Box,” ready for action. There should be about 100…
Launch box complete with about 100 cocoons.
March 6, 2014…first set of Mason bee blocks set up on new shelf.
March 30, 2014…We have lift-off. After 24 days of anxious waiting, we see a bee emerge.
HB says this is a male. You can see a little yellow fuzz on the face and it has long antenna. I’m soooo relieved to see bees, because after pulling them out of their tubes last year, I wondered if I had handled them too roughly.
March 30, 2014…I’m guessing this is a male mason bee. (“Not so fast, Pat”. HB says this is a FEMALE) The males live but a few days. After they mate with the female, they die.
A female has already chosen her first tube.
Carolyn Prola, author and historian who lives in Myrtle Point, Oregon, shows off her Mason bees. Her bees are ahead of mine by a week or two. Carolyn is responsible for getting me back into Mason bees after a couple of false starts.
Last year’s Mason bee beginnings
Adventures in Natural Beekeeping 