How to Transition Old Nesting Material to Healthy Nesting Material and Rescue Your Baby Bees Inside
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- čas přidán 23. 07. 2024
- When you set out a "bee hotel" to attract mason bees, you're also attracting invasive predators. In nature they find natural holes in their environment that are camouflaged and harder for predators to find, but a bee hotel has a sign hanging on it that says "VACANCY COME ON IN"
Using the proper nesting material and fall maintenance is a key component to a healthy and thriving bee population. Pollen mites, houdini fly larva, chalkbrood and mono wasps are invasive predators that will eventually overrun your bee hotel and cause your bee tenants to perish.
Nesting material that can be opened so that cocoons can be extracted is the best kind to use. Blocks of wood with holes drilled in or bamboo reeds cannot be opened and over time will be a breeding ground for predators.
If you have old nesting material that has never been cleaned and you have holes that are plugged with mud, you have baby bees inside. In the video below we’re going to teach you how to transition your old nesting blocks to provide a healthier habitat for your mason bees and save the bees inside.
Please do your part to clean nesting blocks and cocoons EVERY year. If this is something you’re not able to commit too, then you can rent from us and we can do all of the cleaning for you.
Raising your own bees? Learn proper care and maintenance on how to clean them and store over winter. The best time to harvest and clean your cocoons and nesting blocks is in the Fall when it is still cold. • How to Harvest, Wash &...
What our Fall Harvest where we clean 3 million mason bee cocoons - • Mason Bee Fall Harvest...
Watch this video to see what predators look inside a nesting block - • Identify what is insid...
Learn How to Care for Mason & Leafcutter Bees - • Learn All About Mason ...
If you did not harvest in the Fall and want to Change to Proper Nesting Material (Ya... thank you) and are Now Harvesting Right Before Spring, here is How to Care for the Cocoons You Save:
If you can open your nesting material, carefully remove the viable cocoons and dispose of any pollen mites or houdini fly larva that you find. You can wash them (1 cup of bleach to 20 gallons of water), but they need to be completely dried before going into cold storage, otherwise you'll have mold issues. You need to make sure bath and drying doesn't warm them up or you'll have emergence. Then, dry them in a non heated garage or shed. Can you find a window screen you can spread them out on. Then elevate and put a fan blowing under them? They should all be dry over night under a fan. Then, you can place in your refrigerator or if spring is close and temps will soon be 50, you can place them outside with your nesting block. Do not place loose cocoons outside. Get a pudding or jello box, place cocoons inside and make an emergence hole they can crawl out of.
About Rent Mason Bees:
Our program makes it easy to become a solitary bee host. Gardeners purchase a bee kit that comes with house, nesting block, clay and bees. You release solitary bees into your yard and RENT our nesting blocks for your bees. When you release the bees into your yard they will lay babies in your natural habitat and your nesting block. Harvesting and cleaning the cocoons and blocks is a critical step when hosting solitary bees to remove harmful predators. When you rent from us we take care of the maintenance and cleaning for you. You keep the black house and return the nesting blocks back to us. The following year, you will just need to reorder an “insert” with a sterilized nesting block and clean bees. Please watch our Fall Harvest Video to see how we clean them.
• Our Mason Bee Fall Harvest (why you Rent… we do all the cleaning) - • Mason Bee Fall Harvest...
• Inside a Mason & Leafcutter Block (the importance of why you need to harvest and clean… remove predators) • Predators On the Insid...
Mason bees need spring blooms and leafcutter bees need summer blooms. We provide a variety of options to help you become a solitary bee host. Our Mason Bee Starter kits come with a black shelter, nesting block, bag of clay and pollinator seeds. If you would like both spring and summer pollinators, our Pollinator Package comes with spring mason and summer leafcutter bees, two different nesting blocks for both bees, bag of clay for your masons and flower seeds. We send you both bees and you put out the mason block out first in spring and swap the blocks with the leafcutter block in summer. Don’t worry, we’ll notify you and teach you along the way. Here is a video we did about swapping blocks:
"HOW TO SWAP YOUR MASON BEE BLOCK WITH YOUR LEAFCUTTER BEE BLOCK" - • When to Remove Mason B...
Here is our store link. rentmasonbees.com/rentals/
A quicker way - which I advise to my network - is to place the spaces that cant be opened, nest entrance upwards (like yours) in a sealed cardboard box with a single exit hole at the top.
Having converted a couple of those bee houses I'd like to disagree on how to deal with the bamboo. They can be opened easily by standing them upright on a firm surface and placing a utility knife blade on the open end. A tap with pliers or any solid tool will split the bamboo open (safely). The blade can go 1/2 in. or so into the bamboo without harm. A twist on the knife blade opens the cocoon which can then be cleaned out and discarded along with mites and other bad guys. I appreciate your video's, having learned a great deal from them.
Thank you for your feedback. Some bamboo can be opened, but it can be difficult. In our "How to Harvest, Wash & Store Your Mason Bee Cocoons" video we demo how to do this. Here is the link czcams.com/video/9_1WlEDTyhk/video.htmlsi=NAauA24DqhCI3VVg
I agree. Split them before hand and then tape them back together. They can be cleaned and disinfected easily.
This is a great tip! Last year I bought some masons from another beekeeper and they arrived in bamboo tubes :( Wish I would have known this then! Masons ended up re-nesting in them before I knew what was happening. I did manage to safely split them open last Fall to get them out so this would not be a problem again this year. Thank you for this video!
It's June 1st, and, about a week ago I discovered that mason bees have populated one of those crappy "mason bee houses" with bamboo tubes that I left on my back porch and then forgot about. Nature finds a way, doesn't it? Nesting activity seems to have stopped for the year, but I want to do what I can, now, to save what bees are in those tubes. I believe I can disassemble the "house" carefully, and with a bit of luck, hope that the tubes are not horribly glued in place. I'm willing to consider carefully splitting the tubes to extract the bee cocoons, if I can get the tubes out safely from the disassembled house. I have a mesh bag that the house (or extracted tubes) will fit in, to help protect against predators. Absent that option, it seems that the whole house might need to go into cold storage until next spring. My porch is not covered, so I'd like to get them out of the direct sun now that nesting seems to have stopped (there's still a few stragglers who show up to fill what empty tubes are left) Can I contact you guys to discuss my options?
Hi David. If anything new was laid this season you’ll want to remove and store in garage or shed over summer. You can buy some tule to wrap it up with. In the fall, when they’re safe in cocoons, you can disassemble everything. I’ve done this for a few people and pliers to pull bamboo out and chisel to split bamboo open worked well. Then pull out any viable cocoons you may find and dispose of everything else. If it’s never been cleaned you may not find many alive and only predators and dried up cocoons. Here are a couple more videos to watch.
How to Store Mason Bees Over Summer
czcams.com/video/ReJmfnISTZQ/video.html
Identify What’s Inside Your Nesting Material
czcams.com/video/zLg0bYXgu-U/video.html
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@@RentMasonBees Thank you for your prompt reply. I've placed the house in its mesh protective storage bag, tube ends facing up, in my garage, which is underneath my home, mostly below ground level. It stays a pretty consistent 65 degrees, which Im assuming is ok. Even if I decide not to split the bamboo tubes open, would this still be ok for storage until Spring?
One other question. If I choose to tackle splitting the tubes open, how far into fall/winter is safe as to the bees being safely snug in their cocoons? I don't want to start splitting the tubes before the bee cocoons are ready to be harvested. Thank you, again!!
Super. Great job😃👍🐝🐝
Maybe a silly question but can you just disassemble the bamboo tube collection into singles every fall like the cardboard ones and leave them in a bucket of water and soap or something to clean. Maybe rotate the bamboo tubes every year, like one group of tubes is deployed while the others are cleaned and stored in a sealed container?
Bamboo can attract mold and harm the bees as well as the chalkbrood and pollen mites that are inside. Studies haven't been done on how long the chalkbrood fungus or pollen mites will last for inside the tubes. It's best to start with clean nesting material every spring.
I covered my nest holes with about 3/4” of sawdust. It fell into the holes as the bees emerged, but didn’t fill the holes because they’re 6” deep. They didn’t seem to mind a little sawdust in the bottom-they refilled the holes anyway.
Determined little bees. Once they've all emerged, you'll want to remove that old nesting material so that it's not tempting to them.
@@RentMasonBees Yeah. Because of the sawdust, it's impossible to know when they've all emerged. And it didn't prevent them from reentering. Oh well!
I have had that Red Roof bee house for 5 years, but am unable to clean the tubes obviously. You didnt mention the time if year to use the sawdust and/ or grass seed to cover the occupant bees.
If you're not able to clean, the sawdust method is in early spring before the bees have started to emerge.
The best time to harvest and clean your cocoons are in the fall. Here is a video on how to do that. czcams.com/video/9_1WlEDTyhk/video.htmlsi=dmHxV-7bGSyY60rZ
I bought a mason bee house at Costco years ago and its never been used by any local residents. I've since learned I put it in a terrible spot--north facing & under the patio eaves (dark.) I'm now wondering if I should dismantle it to try replacing the old tubes or just start over? We have extreme southern exposure (VERY got in summer) and moderate western exposure options for our outer walls. Living in the PNW, Puget Sound corridor.
The stacking tray in the center can be easily opened, so I would open to just make sure it’s clean. The bamboo is super glued to the back and can be removed with pliers. You can refill with cardboard tubes which can then be opened and cleaned in the fall. If you want to maintain and clean your own mason bees here is a video on how to do that. If you don’t, you can release bees and rent out nesting blocks that you send back in September and we’ll clean all the predators.
How to clean & store video czcams.com/video/9_1WlEDTyhk/video.htmlsi=zyFd7QYYk8lxtDV
@@RentMasonBees That's awesome! It may be easier for me to do the rental for now. I've got some physical limitations and I never know when I'll hit tilt anymore as I recover. It's a day by day, exertion by exertion thing. I haven't looked yet, but I'm assuming there's a website to do the rental thing.
@@birdlandartrenae2632 yes
rentmasonbees.com
I have alot of copper/brass pipe at home I was wondering if I cut this up would it make good bee tubes?....
Thank you for asking. The best type of nesting material is the kind you can open and clean in the fall. Copper/brass pipes cannot be opened to be cleaned, so we'd advise against using those. Every fall nesting material and cocoons need to be cleaned of predators and the following spring new clean nesting material needs to be put out.
@@RentMasonBees Hi there thankyou for the prompt reply!☺️....If I designed a box for them so that they could all be removed and cleaned then would that be okay?🤔.
@@195Bucks yes. If they’re the right size and you can open and clean. how would you cut open the pipes? Or you could use removable cardboard tubes.
@@RentMasonBees hi there, they are old hot/cold water and radiator pipes I will cut them all to the same length then put them in a block which can sit inside an outer skin made of wood(sides and back, protected with a water based varnish if okay?)(the rear of the pipes will butt upto this).and a removable roof then when the bees have gone and it's time to clean it I just lift the roof off, remove the block of pipes and give them a clean out with a pipe cleaner and put it back ready for their next return....how's that?..☺️
@@195Bucks I wish it was that easy. You can watch this video to see how to clean the mason bee cocoons and then every spring you'll need to provide new nesting tubes. The ones they used the previous year could have pollen mites or chalkbrood. How to Clean Mason Bees czcams.com/video/wzDWeADhOno/video.html
inconsistent sound quality/volume. get a better mike.
Yes. We have 3 employees and are making our own videos. We're NEWbees!! We now have learned how to mic up for future videos. Thank you for watching.