Mason Bees For BEGINNERS! - Learn how to start Mason Bees!🐝
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- čas přidán 8. 07. 2024
- #OurWeekendHomestead #MasonBees #Pollinators
Do you want to have more success in your backyard garden? We are going to focus on mason bees for beginners. Last year our garden got off to a real slow start. We noticed that there weren’t many bees pollinating our plants. After doing some research we found that we could have our own colony of mason bees to help pollinate our garden. Check out what it takes to start your own bee colony. If you don’t want to miss any of our upcoming videos, be sure to Subscribe and hit that Notification Bell. I will also put a list and links for all of the parts we used for this project in the description below. If you enjoyed the video, please give us a Thumbs up. Feel free to leave us a Comment if you have any questions or if there is something you would like to see in a future video. Thank you for watching and we will see you next time.
David & Lisa
Instagram - @OurWeekendHomestead
Affiliate Links - We earn a small commission when you shop using our links. This small commission allows us to continue to provide quality content. Thank you for your support. We genuinely appreciate you.
We buy our Mason & Leaf Cutter bee supplies from Crown Bees: tinyurl.com/yw4n4psn
Items used for this project:
Bee Chalet -tinyurl.com/5buud5xm
Chalet Bee house kit with bees -tinyurl.com/4hd7pp2x
Crown Bees / Cocoon Hatchery - tinyurl.com/37uvmr5v
Crown Bees / Bird Guard - tinyurl.com/ju477kwc
Mason Bee Invitabee - tinyurl.com/yv3uvj66
Mason Bee Starter Kit - tinyurl.com/hw58sy2x
Crown Bees did not sponsor this video. They did however take the time to answer my questions via email. This was a big help as we were deciding which products to buy.
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ORGANIC Rev - tinyurl.com/usb6yecn
Chapters
0:00 Video Introduction
1:18 Materials needed
1:36 Setting up the bee house
3:33 Mason bees pollination explained
4:38 Installing the bees
6:17 Project wrap-up
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Thanks for this video ! As a beginner it helped a lot (:
Glad it was helpful! We will start working our honey bees at the ranch soon too. Thanks for watching.
I accidently picked up a mason bee at the end of the summer last year. Tried to save it but was too late. After crying about it. Came this year a local grocery store had mason houses. Well we bought one and man did we get a swarm off them. Eventually one of them nearly died from falling into our water pitcher. Got lucky and saved it from drowning.
How exciting! The bees are lucky to have you. Hope you have great success with your bee house and gardens. Thanks for watching!!
I accidentally created the perfect conditions for mason bees on my balcony. I couldn't believe they came to my house in the middle of the city. i bought one of those wooden houses you have with the bamboo sticks already planted inside and I hang it up at face height just for fun. The balcony is facing south and it's in the shade of the upstairs neigbours' balcony. I do have a modest amount of flowers on my balcony and I also have two buckets hanging there. I forgot to make a hole in the buckets so every now and then they are filled with rain water so you have a clay like substance in there between rainy periods.
Of what I read they will only hatch 11 months later so I'll have plenty of time to increase the amount of flowers since not many people in a 300 feet radius are active gardeners. Good thing is that mason bees don't sting.
Your set up sounds amazing. Good luck with your bees. I’m sure they will be real happy in the habitat you created for them. Thanks for watching!
I just learned of Mason bees. I never saw a single honeybee all year long in our garden, only a few bumblebees, and our lack of good harvest bore this out. Thanks for the video.
Thank you for watching! We started raising Mason Bees for the same reasons and they have been amazing pollinators. This year we have been fortunate to have bumblebees, honeybees, leaf cutter bees & Mason bees all around our gardens. I’m sure your garden will benefit from the Mason bees too!
Thank you! I sponsor a student Environmental club at a highschool in Canada and we are going to make Mason bee and leafcutter homes soon as a club activity. Appreciate the help from your video - I like the wire guard to discourage creatures from poking around.
We are so glad you enjoyed the video. We are getting ready to put out another video soon. That bird guard is really good to have. We thought we could take it down but caught the hummingbirds trying to eat our bee larvae. Now the guard stays on there. Good luck with your project!! Thanks for watching!!
Just install new landscaping and this is just what I needed to complete my project, thanks for posting.
That’s great! You’ll love having them. Thanks for watching & commenting! Good luck with your bees & gardens.
I live in the city we have at least 6 people i know who have bees they have any from 2 to 10 hives. My neighbor love them watching them in there little pond and on all there foowers and garden.
We love seeing them too! Thanks for watching & commenting.
I dig your mellow style, man and I appreciate you sharing this information. I was going to get honeybee hives and have decided to focus on native bees instead.
Thanks for the comment. The native bees have been a great addition to our urban garden. Honeybees are both fascinating and humbling. We are learning more and more every year. Best of luck to you! Thanks for watching.
Thank you so very much for this bee house.
I have a back problem and can’t really handle working a regular size beehive but want bees in yard.
We are so happy to read your comment! We have really been enjoying our bee house. They are fun to watch and we see them all over our garden. We hope you get the same enjoyment out of yours! Thanks for watching. 🐝
I really like the hatching add-on!
Thank you for watching! We hope you found it helpful.
I'm so excited to try this! Thanks for the video
Thanks for watching! Hope you enjoy them as much as we do!
Another great video ! I just learned some things i didn't know about Bees
Thanks for watching and commenting. We are so glad you liked the video. Stay tuned! More Bee videos to come.
This was really great info! Thanks!!
Thank you so much!! We are so glad you found it helpful. Thank you for watching and commenting.
Great video. I can’t wait to get my bees!
Glad you liked it! Good luck with your bees!! Thanks for the comment.
i like your video. good job! it is very simple to start ceeping mason bees. i started a colony last year as well
Thanks! Glad you liked it. Good luck with your mason bees. Thanks for watching & commenting.
I think you guys need a video dedicated to Chassis. “The life of Puppy Face”
That's a great idea! Maybe we can do that in a future video. Thanks for watching the channel!
Great video. Thank you.
Thanks for watching!! We are so glad you liked the video. We will be having more videos with our bees throughout the season.
Great video! Subbed after just the first one!
Glad you liked the video! Thanks for subscribing. Appreciate the support!
Thx 👍.Some good practical tips there.
Glad you liked it! Thanks for the 👍🏻
@@OurWeekendHomestead go
Thanks For more information on the this types of Bees 🐝
I bought bees and They emerged from their cocoon before being delivered and once I open the Package, They flew away ( I believe they were males they had white on the faces) I will be watching more of your Videos
Sometimes you don’t see the bees but if you look closely you might see little signs that they’ve been back to the home. Hopefully a few stuck around and you get some benefits from them 🌻Thanks for watching! 🌱
So your video is great..I'm a bee keeper too but your video doesn't say how to use a house if it only comes with the house and tubes. A lot of kits don't include the bees or cocoons. Do you know what time of the year to attract the naturals to use the house?
When temperatures are above 50 consistently & flowers are blooming. Thanks for watching!!
I did not use the invita bee formula and mine found their nest just fine.
That’s good to know. How exciting. Good luck with your bees & gardens. Thanks for watching & commenting.
Watching here my new friend from Margie tv
Thanks for watching!
I just bought a home and the bees naturally came no smell no nothing. they clean the nests too. I just got mine from walmart
That’s great! Now they have a nice home in your backyard. They sure are a great addition to the garden! Thanks for watching & commenting.
My bee house and bees should be here any day! I'm trying to figure out the best location to put it. It gets really hot here in the summer, so I need to find a spot that gets morning sun but doesn't bake in the afternoon. It's a challenging dilemma.
That’s so exciting!! We did a little sun mapping on our property to find the best spot. How we did this was we drew a simple map of the area where we thought we wanted to hang the bee house. Then we went out every few hours and checked where the sun was hitting and marked it on the map. This helped us see where the shade fell as well. Just remember the sun is lower in the winter and higher in the summer. Let us know how it works out.
LIKE.
Thanks for watching!
Couple of years ago, I built a bee hotel but it only attracted dirt daubers (black wasps). I am happy to attract anything but I still want mason bees mainly. Thanks for your info.
Glad you found it helpful. Hope you get some Mason bees to take up residence. Good luck & thanks for watching & commenting.
Question: I am in zone /8-9 in Southern Mississippi. Is it especially hard to attract masons in hot, humid weather?@@OurWeekendHomestead
Ao I love this idea, but at the same time I don't want to get stung when I'm enjoying my yard, is that going to be a problem.
That was something we thought about too! Surprisingly, they don’t bother us at all. We tend the garden & swim in the pool and haven’t had any trouble with them. The garden sure did benefit from having them though. You should give it a try. Thanks for watching & commenting. We would love to hear how it goes!!🐝
Yours is my first video so I’m a total novice but really want to add Mason Bees. 1. Why is your new Mason Bee house only filled 1/2 full with reeds? 2. The purchased Mason Bees will make that their home but will your yard Mason Bees also find it and nest there without territorial battles? Thank you.
Hi there! Glad you found us!! We only bought a small amount of reeds to start with. You can put as many as you like. It’s totally customizable. We have yet to see any battles. The bees are docile. You can have native & introduced in the same house no problem. Good luck with your gardens.
can you tell me what to use to plug the reeds. I bought quit a few and they don't have plugs. Thanks in advance.
When you buy the reeds one end should be closed. The open end faces out. The bees lay eggs in the reeds and once it’s filled the bees fill or cap the reed. The type of material that the bee uses depends on the type of bee. Mason bees use mud and leaf cutter bees use leafs. I hope this helps. Thanks for watching our videos!
If my “active” house is facing the wrong direction should I move it or wait until fall.
No, wait til next season and then move it if need be. Thanks for watching & commenting. Good luck with your bees.
Where did you get the wire for the house? I’d love to find something like that I don’t have to staple to the house!
Crown Bees is where we got the bird guard. There is a link in the video description that should take you there. Thanks for watching!
The morning sun at my house hits the front of the house. My garden is in the back. Where do you recommend I put the bee house?
That’s a great question. You can put it on a tree or post or other structure. You just want to give it shade from the afternoon sun. How exciting! We wish you success with your bees & garden. Let us know how it goes. Thanks for watching & commenting!!
Many, many other native bees are available too
Thanks for watching!
I received a Mason Bee house for Mother's Day. As a bee fanatic, but not educated, I believe it's too late to begin. Am I correct? Do I need to wait and start next year? Thank you for the video
You should be fine. They are just starting to ship out Leafcutter bees also know as summer bees. We have a few more honey bee videos coming out in the next few weeks. I hope this helps. Thank you for watching our channel.
@@OurWeekendHomestead what do I watch to attract or should I order them. I am in Reno, NV. Thanks again!
We purchased ours from CrownBees. They also have a product called Invitabee. It’s an attractant for bees. It also helps you as you introduce the cocoon in the bee house.
I bought some bees that came shipped in the tubes. Do you have to remove the cocoons from the tube?
Great question! We harvest the cocoons out of our reeds each year and store them in the refrigerator until the temperature is correct to release them. Then we put them out in the bee house to hatch. Hope this helps. Thanks for watching!
@@OurWeekendHomestead So in the wild, they burrow through the dried mud to get out?
Yes, they do. Next week we will receive 200 leafcutter bees. Their reeds are smaller and they seal them up with small pieces of leaves. We will be putting together a video on the leafcutters real soon. Thanks for the questions. Good luck with your bees!
So if I just put a bee house up, none will find it naturally, they have to be basically bought and placed there?
Great question! If there are Mason bees in the area they definitely could make their home in your bee house. Buying them helps ensure we have plenty of bees to pollinate our gardens. Thank you for watching & commenting.
Another update please!
We are working on videos for both our solitary and honey bees. 🐝 Stay tuned!
@@OurWeekendHomestead yay! Thank you!!!
No just get a drill and a block of wood if you don’t wanna have to re-drill your holes every year put a paper tube in them so you can take them out
Interesting idea. Thanks for sharing and watching!
Wouldn’t it be better to put this somewhere other than on your house? I honestly am asking. 😊
Thank you for the question. We surveyed our property and felt that this was the perfect place to install the bee houses. We love the way they look and enjoy all the benefits of having solitary bees in our gardens. We now have two bee houses in this location and we are not bothered by the bees at all. The nice thing is you can install them wherever you like and if you change your mind they can easily be moved. Good luck with your solitary bee journey. Thanks for watching & commenting. We sure do appreciate it!
Do you have to buy bees each year or will they become self sustaining?
The solitary bees lay larva which turns into a cocoon. You then harvest them for the following year.
I clicked the link for the bird guard but it looks like crown bees doesn’t sell it anymore! I can’t find anything like it!
We bought it from Crown Bees. Sorry that the link was broken. Thank you for letting us know. We have fixed that now and the new link is in the details section of our video. tinyurl.com/ju477kwc
Thanks! Do you find birds try to get at the bees? Is the guard successful? I bought it after seeing this but it hasn’t come yet so I put up some temporary chicken wire until it comes!
@@athenalevesque We have tons of birds in our yards. They just love it here. We too were afraid they might go after the bee house. So far they have not, but we do feel confident the bee guard will protect them. Good luck with your bees!
Hi I live in UK just got a Bee House, it's cold here now when is the best time to put it out ?
Congratulations on getting a bee house! The timing depends on what you are doing. If you are releasing new bees here are some simple guidelines. For Mason Bees daytime temps should be above 55F (13C). Open blooms should be within 300 sq ft (100 sq.m). They prefer 8mm nesting materials. For Leafcutters Bees daytime temps should be above 75F (24C). Open blooms should be within 300 sq ft (100 sq.m). They prefer 6mm nesting materials. I hope this helps. Good luck!
@@OurWeekendHomestead thank you 👍
I live in central CA. I've been told I can't order bees to be shipped to me from out of state. I want to know how you were able to order your bees. Thanks for your help.
We buy our Mason & Leaf cutter bees online from Crown bees. Our honey bees we buy from a local beekeeper and pick them up. This has worked well for us. Hope this helps.
do you have to add new bees every year?
Not always. You harvest the cocoons at the end of the season and put them away for next year. If you are lite on cocoons you may want to by some more. I normal always buy more because I'm a little lazy and want to be sure to get all that we can. They made a big difference in our garden last year. Thanks for your question.
I’m
So confused when I got my bee chalet!!!
One package with reeds in it marked MB and the other marked LC.
I ASSUMED there were bees in the reeds.
Nope. They didn’t ship yet. Crown Bees has the worst customer service Avenue and took me forever to learn I got 0 bees in my order! Why did they ship extra reeds with no bees?!?! So disappointed in this shipment.
I’m sorry you are having trouble. There are different packages on their site. Some complete sets others are just houses & reeds. The cocoons usually ship dependent upon the season & temperature. Ours did not come in the reeds. They were just the cocoons & we bought the humidifier box to keep the cocoons in until our temps were right to put them out in the bee house. We usually order our Mason bees first & then take delivery of the leaf cutters a month or so later. It sounds like if they haven’t shipped yet & you ordered bees with the kit, it’s probably because they aren’t ready to “wake up” yet or the conditions aren’t right for shipping safely. Don’t give up. It’s so worth having them in the garden. We are ordering more bees from Crown bees for our property as I type this. I found some info on their website that might be helpful: Please note: Bees ship separately from products, so they will not arrive in the same package unless otherwise specified! At this time, we can only ship bees to the United States and Canada. We can not ship bees to P.O. Boxes. For the health of the bees, we only ship mason bee cocoons on Mondays (Feb - April) to ensure they do not get stuck in transit over the weekend. We recommend picking a shipping date that is two weeks ahead of when you expect your spring plants to bloom. We’d love to hear how it all turns out & hope it gets resolved for you & you get the bees in your gardens soon. Thanks for reaching out.
Why would someone want to put a bee's nest literally on their house near any gathering social area?
These bees are solitary bees and they do not swarm or sting. We rarely see them. What we do see are huge garden harvest’s & beautiful flowers in our gardens from their amazing pollination skills.
@@OurWeekendHomestead Thank you! I've learned something new.
I definitely do not recommend Crown Bees! I bought a very pricey kit and have not received my leafcutter bees! I'm now stuck with bee supplies and no bees! I was refunded $27 for the bees because customer service was tired of trying to get me my order. Their shippers created a shipping label as if my order shipped but instead never shipped it!
That’s definitely not the experience we have had. I’m so sorry you had trouble. We order every year from Crown Bees with absolutely no issues. We just received our Mason Bees a few weeks ago and our leafcutters are coming next week. Hopefully you can find some leafcutter bees to fill your houses or better yet maybe some wild ones will make their home in your bees houses!
@Our Weekend Homestead I'm glad you had a better experience than I did! I'm really frustrated that they did not insure I received my bees after spending almost $200 for the kit! They just gave up on trying to get my order out. 1st shipment, FedEx lost and 2nd shipment I received a notification that my order had shipped. When it didn't arrive and I let them know, they informed me it never shipped. I asked to have someone higher up in management contact me but that didn't happen either. I watched hours of videos on bees before ordering and was really exciting to have bees to my garden that is in full bloom! This entire experience has been so disappointing!
OMG...I fell asleep
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