After many years of keeping Mason bees I lost my entire colony last year, I can only think there was a sudden low temp that killed them, I left them out. Anyone have any other insight? I recommend putting them in a sheltered place at least where temperatures can't go too low.

My bees were active very late in summer and some people on the forum thought they could be leaf-cutter bees instead of Mason bees? There are photos in google.

I thought someone more knowledgable than me might answer but: We have had Mason bees for the past 3 years. They are still doing well, but the hive is located on the south side of our barn so as soon as the sun shines in early spring they become active. Unfortunately, the orchard is not on the same time schedule so they are too early to pollinate our fruit trees. Next year, I am planning to leave the boxes in place during the winter, but when we get our first sunny, warm spell, I'm going to take them down and put them in a cool spot so they will hibernate longer -- until I need them for pollinating my orchard. I might not even put them in my fridge, just inside the barn where it stays much cooler. I'd be interested in hearing what other people do????

Thank you guys. I'll leave them out, but under the deck so they're not exposed to chilling winds.

As an addendum, here's a picture of the two different types of plugs, presumably from two different types of bees. I didn't realize there's a bee forum, so i'll cross post this there as well to see if anyone can shed additional light.

Thanks again!
{{gwi:431933}}

Love mason orchard bees especially when they are about the only thing out to pollinate my peach trees. I thought I'd share a quick and easy way to make mason orchard bee 'boxes' without having to drill a block of wood. We start with a tin can and ... see link for instructions.

Here is a link that might be useful: Easy to make Mason Orchard Bee house

I have had mason bee blocks for many years now. I never do a thing to them. They are native, they can take care of themselves. They do not need refrigeration in winter; they do not need to be brought inside for shelter; they do not need their blocks cleaned out. Mine were out all last winter of course, and are now starting to emerge.

I have noticed that leafcutter bees like the same blocks, and any empty cells not filled the first year by the mason bees get used by the leafcutters, and then of course in the future those cells are not available anymore to the mason bees as they are already filled by leafcutters. so I have both in my blocks, and that's fine, as both are native pollinators active in different seasons, working different plants.

Mason bees are black and shiny and mostly hairless. Leafcutter bees are colored with black stripes, and somewhat fuzzy, and smaller than either masons or honeybees.

The blocks do need to be hung where they get some shelter from pounding rain and wind. They like to be on an east facing wall, under an eave. West facing walls tend to get too much wind and rain as the prevailing winds in winter around here are usually from the southwest.

When you go on the beekeeping forum make sure you repeat constantly that you are talking about MASON bees and not HONEY bees. Beekeeping usually means honeybees and the two species are very different.

This thread came alive just as my mason bees are starting to come alive. :) How fun!

I never would have thought to use bamboo sticks as mason bee tubes. Some folks are so clever.

Reg, i've followed your lead and adopted a "let nature do its thing" approach to my mason bees also. I did nothing to them this past winter, and even though they were more exposed to the elements than i was comfortable with, they seem to have come through the freeze just fine.

I'm sure i have a mix of bees in those tubes now, and your words about the two types more or less living in harmony please me.

I plan to get another can of tubes to match the one i already have because the holder is a two can holder and it looks a little off balance now.

But i won't get anymore bees.

If you build it ... they will come.

I've had Mason Bees for 8 years. Last year I lost most of them,I presume, to weather. I,fortunately had 140 liner Tubes,with bees from last year. I usually put out 400 tubes and in the past they have always been filled. This year I put out 324 tubes,81 per half gallon Milk container(9 rows of 9 tubes each. I built 2 enclosuere that will hold 2 milk cartons each with an area to put 70 Bee filled
Liners. Works for me and I have an abundance of Asian Pears on my 6 trees since I incorporated the Bees in my Gardening program.
Jim

I agree that allowing nature is the best way that's why I never weed my garden and let the dandelions take right over. I especially like to infest my neighbours with them too.

Letting nature take its course is fine if you are a backyard gardener and doing this for fun.

A few words of caution though:

If you are given a fish and aquarium and never change the water, your fish die much quicker. The same occurs with an artificial population of mason bees. By providing holes for them to live in, you concentrate pests as well. By doing nothing, you wind up with significantly less mason bees than had you done "something".

Please look to our website on background and simple steps you can do to enhance your population.

A recent conducted by the ARS/Logan Bee Lab shows that mason bees have a significantly lower mortality rate through keeping a managed temperature over the winter rather than just leaving them exposed to the elements. Yes, some survive, but if you are trying to increase populations for pollination, keep your cocoons in a 39-40 degree environment. The crisper drawer is fine for a small tupperware container of cocoons with a few holes in the lid.

lastly, when you leave your holes out through the summer, many of your tubes are partially filled. (probably 1/2 the number of completely filled ones.) Other mason bee species that come out later in the year don't recognize each other and will fill the remaining part of the hole/straw with their young. In the spring, the blue orchard bee will emerge and tunnel through anything in their way. By not changing out straws periodically in the summer, you're unknowingly killing off later in the year bees. (I hope this was clear enough!)

We'd like you to be successful in raising mason bees. Please read through a few pages of our website to learn more tips.

Thank you,

Dave Hunter, Owner
Crown Bees

Here is a link that might be useful: Crown Bees

Well it's pretty cold over here, and the year I tried Mason bees we had a particularly cold spring. I kept my bees in the fridge and by the time I decided to put them out they had starved to death. I thought maybe I should have let them try on their own...