Mason Bee Homes: 2.0
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- čas přidán 17. 01. 2018
- www.edibleacres.org
Sharing notes on the newer versions of native bee homes I'm making this winter. I'd love to get feedback from folks on what seems like it will work, what could be improved. Please comment with images and videos of any native bee homes you've made!
Foster Forest Products, in Trumansburg NY... source for excellent milled wood at reasonable price: 607-220-6128 - Rich. Tell him I sent ya! (my name is Sean by the way!)
crownbees.com - good source of resources and tools/supplies. Kirk spent 15 minutes plus on the phone with me answering questions on how I could build these on my own, and never tried to sell me a thing, so I want to give them a shout out! Thanks!
www.edibleacres.org/ - our permaculture nursery in NYS
Edible Acres is a full service permaculture nursery located in the Finger Lakes area of NY state. We grow all layers of perennial food forest systems and provide super hardy, edible, useful, medicinal, easy to propagate, perennial plants for sale locally or for shipping around the country...
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Happy growing!
czcams.com/video/_iBbs2odsq8/video.html - Update video... I was excited to make these as an improvement but the bees showed me they prefer Japanese Knotweed tubes by a long shot. Check out the video linked here and see what seems to be their favorite setup so far...
Thank you for the great video. I love your bee houses and was about to buy the materials to make them as I like the ease of removing the cocoons and cleaning. Thanks for the update too. I’m excited as we have lots of Japanese knotweed around here but I need to know; do the knotweed tubes actually have the necessary properties that are recommended for the bees survival. I’m reading and watching so much about this subject and learning all the time. I’m shocked to find out that my bee houses, that get more full each year, are not necessarily doing as much good as I thought they were. 😔. I’m hoping to do better for the bees in the future. 🐝🐝
Very well done Sir
As the video opened, I could see right away what you were going to describe. This is a very good technique for being able to collect cocoons and to clean the laying chambers. If someone doesn't own a router they could clamp two boards together and drill a series of 3/8" holes next to the seam between boards, nearly duplicating the channels you created. Good job, and thanks for sharing!
Good call on the clamped boards and the drill. More available to a wider group. I borrowed the router from my dad since a new one was over 100 bucks! I really only need it for this and rounding over some cutting boards. If I make a follow up video on these I'll try to remember your insight here.
That's a great tip Brian! Been wondering how to make those channels cost effectively without a router or a special saw blade
We’ve been caring for mason bees for a few years now and they’re such wonderful, gentle bees. I’ve found that the roof seems to be the first thing to go, even though we store the houses in the garage over winter, so your metal roof seems like a great solution. I also love the idea of having a large, protected attic space for the bees to emerge from their cocoons in early spring. Here in the PNW we can have a problem with pollen mites, so it’s really important to be able to harvest the cocoons in autumn. We just use a modified wood tongue depressor (a bit softer than a screwdriver) and an old tooth brush and our population has been exploding. I hope you both have a great time getting to know these sweet little bees. 🐝
This kind of comment, with the details and first hand experience, are incredibly helpful to me. I hope everyone watching this video takes the time to look through all these thoughtful additions and observations. Hope your bees have an incredible spring soon!
The amount of very hands-on information coming from your channel is amazing.
Thanks a million once again!
It’s my pleasure to share
EdibleAcres
Just a little thought as an extra protection against water infiltration...
On the level (horizontal) overhangs it might be interesting to cut a drip line/groove to avoid water traveling horizontally and penetrating the vertical "walls". I'm not sure if you know what I mean, so I'll elaborate a little... On a smooth horizontal level ceiling surface, water can travel quite a distance without dripping, so if you cut a little groove parallel to the overhang edge, you encourage water to drip there in stead of traveling further horizontally.
One example is the bluestone exterior window sills on my house... To avoid the runoff rainwater traveling the underside of the sill and infiltrating into the brick wall a groove was cut on the underside, parallel to the edge, about 1cm (half inch) in.
Good luck.
Good thinking. If I see any issues at all with the water traveling into the structure I'll remember this idea!
I’m starting with mason bees next spring.
I love that sweater! And the project looks cool too.
Thanks!
8:37 $5-$6 of material made me look of when did you upload this video ….. Jan 2018 make sense 😂
Beautiful craftsmanship thank you 😊
This is awesome! Thanks for sharing!
Love our pollinators !!
I like your solution for the bee trays. I wonder if it would work to route all the way through the back of the tray, given how the boards will butt up to the back surface of the bee house anyway. Doing this would just make it easier for me to zip these out on a router table or tablesaw without having to stop short.
You were pleasant to listen to.
I like this comment coming from someone named djdestroyer with a middle finger logo! Thats great!
lol
Thank you, this is my first critter project for the year - after all the heartbreak of seeing commercial hives destroyed - hopefully more private citizens will build homes for our bees.
Sorry you had that experience. Yes, I feel this is important and not a hard thing for people to at least try. I had enough positive feedback from early experiments that putting in this effort and much much more feels very worth while. I wish you the best luck with this!
Thank you.
I'm next door to a city park, so I'll try a variety of home styles for them here - see who likes what.
...newspaper , rolled on dowels, taped and placed... hmm, a start today try :D
Super helpful! I've been looking for a better way to do solitary bees because I worried about how to clean out my houses that are just drilled holes in wood. I feel after awhile the bees don't use them anymore. I'm so excited to make new ones with planks! Thanks so much for the informative video.
Strong recommendation to watch: czcams.com/video/_iBbs2odsq8/video.html
I share notes on what the bees seem to like most, and it turns out they really do best with Japanese Knotweed tubes (I explain in detail in the video) and for me they barely used the planks in this video... Live and learn I guess!
one thing worth mentioning is, that it is important to leave *no* gaps between the boards whatsoever! tie'em to begin with, and select wood that doesn't tend to twist or split like this pine... remember, half of the component faces the weather incl. rain & shine while the rest is in moist(er) shade... otherwise these won't last you long enough, and the bees fall victim to mites and mold, if they take at all to cracked tubes. and btw.: my observation with reed or bamboo tubes is, that -yes, inthe beginning they take the luxury of being picky, but once you have bees hatching from a structure, most of them are lazy and stick around, so the 2nd time you have 10x the insects competing for space, and by the end of the season some try to settle in the cracks between the tubes. plus there are smaller species, and sometimes bigger ones who show up curious why theres so much going on, and they take on the before unpopular ones. the mesh should prevent chickadees from picking out the first couple of chambers, so leave some room between the reed and the wire, so that a beak stands no chance of reaching in.
check this for more info. it's in german, but the images speak a universal language:bienenhotel.de/html/mauerbienenzucht.html
I like it! 👍 Mason bees are about 100 X better at pollination of fruit trees than honey bees. Make sure that you have a tub of mud nearby (if you don’t have a Natural mud source within 300’)
These build videos are great.
The survival podcast ep 2023 did an interview last year all about mason bees with someone from Crown Bees. You'd probably find it really interesting, it was the first I'd heard of Mason bees.
I'll check that out. Thanks.
Cool video, we plan on housing some mason bees this year too. Subscribed!
good work !!!
So so helpful thank you so much from Liverpool UK 🇬🇧
Happy to share. Please note that we've since realized (at least for us) that the trays I am experimenting with in this video are not nearly as desirable for wild bees as the natural tubes!
I like the organic lines of the lines. I wonder if the entrance had a substantial curve if that would help protect them from the weather? If we look at Nature, holes are never straight and usually follow the grain of the wood or the path of an existing insect.
Excellent work Sean! I plan to build some more mason bee houses and will use your current design. Would anyone benefit from a how-to video of actually building one?
Thanks Kyle for your thoughts on this! I'd love to see a video from you showing the making of a house. If/when you put one up post a link here so I can pin it!
Another Great video sir! I have been asking about mason bees to my local homesteading/gardening page on facebook just recently so this vid helps a lot. I like to make stuff so this can be added to my list amd I should have all what I need already in my stock piles. Keep us posted on how the process works and if any changes you find would be better.
Thats the idea! I figure most people have most/all the resources they need to make a very simple home with the reeds at least, or put something together like what I share in this video. Good luck to you and share the video out to your group so they can make some too! Maybe have a building party with the group to make a bunch in a day! :)
I raise Mason bees. They like 8mm holes. Anything made with bamboo reeds is a no no for them. Personally, I prefer wood trays because you can control the environment your bees live in which gives them the boost to health they need to raise their population. You can also clean them easily after harvesting your cocoons, and they are reusable for years, unlike the carboard tubes with paper liners. You don't have to keep buying more supplies. The trays also make it easier to keep your population manageable.
Wood with lots of little holes in it draws woodpeckers like a magnet. They can tear the whole thing apart in no time. Best to block off the open side with quarter-inch galvanized wire mesh.
Probably a smart thing to do proactively!
This was excellent. We have some thin runner bamboo and we are going to try making homes this year. I love the other design and the reasons behind it. Is it necessary to sand the rivulets you sawed into the boards worth your router?
I don't know that it would be necessary at all to sand them. I figure the bees can modify it a bit if they want, but cleaning it out seems like it would make their lives easier, so thats why I did it.
Damn. This design may be perfect. I will definitely be stealing this...
Completely free for the taking! I don’t own any ideas as far as I’m concerned 👌
Do you sell them?
Sorry, no. Shipping would be prohibitive. Locally I believe I could!
Great video!
I wonder, has anyone just tried directly drilling holes into trees/ fresh stumps/posts around the garden? I know that you wouldn't be able to remove the bees for over wintering but it seems like that would also be a natural way to build some more housing for the mason bees.
Unfortunately over about three years pollen mites and or spider mites take over the hole and kill all the Mason bee larvae before they can emerge. This is why, to increase population, the homes are dismantled and cleaned each year.
In the wild you are right however, they do best in woodpecker holes and such.
What time of year should you dismantle and clean the houses? I'm not really interested in caccoon harvesting, but I do want to do some bare minimum pest control.
Are u going to have a video on placing these outside? Finding a good spot?
Most definitely. When we get closer to spring you can plan to expect a video showing how and where we hang these.
This is such a good idea, I never thought about any other species of bee other than hive for 'honey bees' which require extensive care and maintenance. This is more of a passive cultivation for pollinators. Have you had any other 'stinging bees' (yellow jackets, white faced hornets, common hornets, carpenter bees, etc.) take over the hutches? And is cleaning the pods out after the fall really needed? I understand about the mold, predatory larvae, and ant/mites, but kind of letting nature do its job?
For cleaning the hives consider a hydrogen peroxide solution. It does a great job on molds, bacteria etc. and is both cheap & non toxic. A solution of 10% H2O2 cut with water should be about perfect. You can buy H2O2 of varying potency up to 35% from some hardware stores.
The 3% stuff sold in drug stores isn't strong enough.
Good to know. I'd plan to avoid any of that unless some particular situation comes up. Worst case I can make new trays to replace if there is a spot infection somewhere. Hopefully this system can avoid that.
How far apart should the BEE houses and BIRD houses be? Would it be an issue if they were less then 3-4 ft away?
I don't have a strong suggestion for you on that. But I think the bird houses should have some distance so there isn't competition between nesting groups. The bee houses I bet could be incredibly close without issue.
do you have to clean them out will they die in winter ? i really wanna try this but i dont wanna remove them from the trays i dont have the storage space
We have since stopped using the trays, check out 'mason bee' as a search on our videos and you can see some other options.
should put some identifiable marks around the face of house; just little blobs of paint or coloring. ive heard in multiple places (like youve said at the end) the bees can sometimes have trouble identifying their hole
Good note. Maybe instead of paint it could be charcoal or crushed wild berries so there is color but no chemicals?
@@edibleacres u could literally just mark it with a knife or burn it
Methods for making tray systems are not as easily found as those for closed systems, so thanks for posting this. I’ve seen a few videos and images where the trays and channels have been burned after being completed. Any idea why this is done? To create variety for bees to identify holes? To replace sanding of the channels? I haven’t found any posts that mentions the purpose of burning, but might just go ahead and do it.
I’ve also seen several sites that run the channels clear along the tray piece instead of stopping. A piece of cardboard and rubber bands were then used to close off the back. I might try that method because it would simplify the routing: just router channels the whole length of wood and then cross-cut trays to size. Any reason you chose to only partially channel trays?
I certainly want you to be sure that I'm sharing notes on my process early on here. This will be the first spring I set them up, I'm excited and it feels promising, but I'm still very much just learning. That being said...
I believe the charring/burning on the faces is about creating unique patterns for them to know what their holes are. I plan on drawing on them with charcoal I make instead of burning the wood.
I believe burning the actual channels isn't what is done at the outset, it is what would be done if you find mites/mold/etc. after a season or two, as a way to clean the channels if they are infected with something. Thats my understanding, and I don't know that personally I would burn them in advance. But if you do, please do share notes with me and let me know if you notice an improvement, difference, etc.
The idea of the long track and then cross cut... why not. Sounds good. With a flush backer that should work beautifully I'd bet. I did them individually so that I could mix and match, have different lengths a bit, and know that they all are 'self-contained' so to speak. Just a preference but your idea makes a great deal of sense...
Please follow up with notes on how it all works for you! :)
Best,
Sean
EdibleAcres Thanks for the reply Sean. This will also be my first time making them, as well as my first time placing mason bee boxes on our property. As of now my plans are to make 2-3 boxes, with 10 trays (78 hole) in each - I’m uncertain about but interested to see occupancy rates and may just start with 2 boxes the first season.
They’ll have a peaked roof with attic space. I don’t have any scrap metal or comparable long-lived product for the roof, but do have some old tar paper I plan on cutting to size and stapling to the roof boards to hopefully buy some extra life out of the wood.
I’ll report back at some point how things go.
Matt
Do we have Mason bee's in the Appalachian mountain's southeastern ky?
Yes
Wouldn't you be able to just take a section of a 4 x 4 post, drill rows of 3/8" diameter holes in it equally spaced 1/2" apart and just use a thin blade electric saw to cut across each row of holes midplane to do the sections?
I bet that would work well. I don't have a bandsaw so I didn't think to try it.
@@edibleacres You can probably get away with using a regular circular saw. You just have to oversize the holes some...like instead of drilling 3/8" dia holes use 7/16" dia or 1/2" dia to make up for the material loss from the blade.
Why do you take out the cacoons? Can't you leave them in the channels to hatch?
We've learned since this video to skip the whole trays and harvesting, etc., and just let them lay in the natural tubes.
Does anyone make houses for carpenter bees?
Good question. Should be some great options out there to learn from, but I haven't tried it yet.
I watched a video with Stefan Sobkowiak last year and he showed his mason bee nests and he was sad that he hadn't put netted wire cage in front of it. He said his nest was a feeder for some birds...so he got some small netted wire and protected them after that then the mason bees were protected. Do you not have birds that love to eat them?
Good question. I think with the wooden boxes they should be more protected, but that is a good reminder that it is not a big deal at all to put a mesh over them so I'll plan to do that...
A round them, with enough space that the birds can get their head through the mesh and reach the nest holes.
I don't understand why you scrape out the live bees and what you did with them?
I would google 'mason bee trays' or 'managing mason bees in trays' to learn a bit more. The idea is to be able to carefully remove the eggs of the bees in the fall to then be able to clean out the trays from mites/molds/etc and help get them ready for the next season. The eggs are placed in another clean container and the bees hatch in the spring and find a clean home.
Yes, thank you, I looked it up.
I want to make some of these but am confused, most of my research says a 5/16 in hole, you are using 3/16 bit and making it 5/16 deep. Why do you feel this is big enough? I'm hoping you have a good reason as I can't seem to find a 5/16 bit around here. Also for some reason I am getting a blank screen when I try to go to your site, is it down today?
I am using a 3/8" bit. 'roundnose' bit from what I recall. And I have it set to be roughly 5/16" deep. I wasn't able to find a 5/16" router bit and after talking with a few people it seems this 3/8" bit should be OK... Hopefully thats helpful?
yes I watched it 3 times, and still heard it wrong. Thank you for the clarification, but I still cannot get to your site, it comes up a blank screen every time.
www.edibleacres.org - that doesn't work for you? It loads just fine for me. I wonder whats happening there.
Do you do any spinning?
I don't know what that is.
Sorry it really wasn't on topic for this video...but I am referring to the spinning of wool? You just look like the type of family that would do it. That is have a couple sheep, shear them, comb the wool and spin it and then make things like socks, sweaters and etc...I do it and it is fun ...
Hello , thank you for your information. Can I supply " mason bee " from you ? There is no here !! Can i buy my first bess from you ?
We don't sell mason bee starts. Generally if you put up a good home for them they will find it on their own.
Great job what do you think about using bamboo? I have unlimited amounts. Thanks
I think the rule of thumb is if you can fit a pencil into it in a snug way and it's roughly 6" or so deep to a backing wall then it should work just fine. Something in that ballpark should work.
Don´t forget about bats. They need a home too.
I have a similar bee but with a white stripe. There are several bore holes in my 2x6 rafters for the greenhouse. A bee will come out and buzz in front of my face to check me out then go about her business. They have a pattern to how they come and go. When I lift the winter plastics they get a little confused but they figure it out. I'm in Florida.
I'm mistaken. Just looked it up. The black with white stripe is a mason wasp. I think mine is the mason bee, cool.
Nancy, 3 years I know , but the bee you were describing in Florida, I am thinking is what I call a borer bee, they drill about a 3/8 inch hole on their own. Usually in the underside of eves etc, and usually at least into a 2 x 4, they were viewed as pests, becuase of the damage, that occurs when woodpeckers( pileated) go after them. They may be pollenators idk but are black and yellow and much larger than what I call a mason bee. Just my 2 cents
cheap lumber? *cries in "everyone is buying lumber during the pandemic"*