That’s NOT a Mason Bee!

Ok so I had this wasp looking thing show up in my laundry room and it looked different so I took a picture before it flew away.

Well, today there was another one in there and I thought, hmmm wonder if they are coming out of the mason bee tubes?  So I took those to the garage and went to release the second one. Well there was one flying around the mason beehive.

Which worried me, are they eating the mason bees? Are they injuring the larva in some way?  I contacted Crown Bees to see if they knew what it was, but Dave didn’t. So it was time for some outreach to one of my trusted bug identification sites Bug Guide.  While the majority of the people on the site are just like me or you, I think there are some real bug gurus too!  In any event it didn’t take long for my ‘friend’ to be identified as a Potter Wasp, scientific name of Monobia quadridens.  This wasp is a ‘green’ wasp in that they believe in reusing old homes from other solitary wasp/bees like mud daubers and mason bees.  They are pollen eaters and they use caterpillars as food for their babies, so no harm to my mason bees.  Now my only concern, I don’t know how many of my mason bee reeds and tubes have mason bees versus potter wasp!  Time will tell….

Honeybees, Mason Bees and Worms…

So today I went and checked on the girls, they are busy as ever and we are up to at least 6 combs now.  Their feeder was empty though, so I came back and made up some syrup for them and after it cooled took it down to replace the empty container.  They don’t seem to really mind me mucking around in there which is a really good thing.  No I didn’t take pictures, still haven’t gotten that spy cam!
The other cool, well I think it’s cool thing are the Mason bees.

Not the best house for them as I can’t easily protect it yet as the bags haven’t been released for sale.  Mason bee larva are prayed on by parasitic wasp, birds and mites so as soon as the females stop laying you are to gather your tubes and reeds.  Well I did that for my other houses that were full, yes full and the summer bees aren’t even here yet!

I’ve got or order some more reeds and was happy to see that they’ve even come out with a protective case for the paper tubes as those are the ones that are most susceptible to the wasp.  I know nature has her way of things but sometimes the good guys need help!
I realized that the worms haven’t gotten many pixels lately and they are much easier to photograph than the bees lol.  I’ve been feeding them a couple times a week with kitchen scraps stuff like strawberry tops, egg shells, coffee, tea bags (that don’t have staples) and just about everything else that they will eat, which is just about everything. 

Remember this is what the first tray looked like?

This is what it looks like today, not much left in there.  Most have moved up into the second tray (image below) and that is where all the food scraps go now and will keep going till it gets full. Then I’ll add another tray to the mix and the bottom one will be able emptied and the one they are in now will become the bottom.

I’m liking the worms a lot, they are super low maintenance and are taking care of my kitchen scraps!  I’ve said it plenty I know, but I’m just not a fussy person that goes for plants, pets and hobbies, so ease of care ranks up there with me!
Have a great day!

Did you hear about the Mason’s???

They are some of the best neighbors you could ask for.  They are hard working, polite and so industrious. Now some would have you believe that they are picky neighbors but I’m here to tell you that this is just not true!  Why they will live in any old hole, they aren’t picky at all.
Case in point, her is one of the Mason girls now, she just happens to be on the underside of the small table on my front porch! 

When she’s done, I won’t be able to access those screws till next spring because it’s gonna look like this.

That’s some handy work right there!  I know some people that don’t spackle that well!  Well I decided to assist the Mason family since there are only so many screw holes on my front porch.

I’ve had this Mason beehive for a few years, I’ve been needing that lovely cedar “L” that you see there.  I just got it this week and my intention was to mount it in the ‘right’ place. Facing south or east, under an eave away from winds, etcetera, etcetera, however I decided to see what would happen if I presented it to the Masons in a location that they were already making home.  Guess what, it took no time for them to start moving in!


I don’t know how long it will take for them to fill up these tubes but it sure is fun watching them fly back and forth.  They seem to not have a care in the world and don’t mind me sitting here watching them.  I love the sounds they make, that happy hum! 
Mason bees are one of Americas native bee species. They are excellent pollinators and since they are quite furry they come out a little sooner in the cool spring air than most honeybees, which are not native to America by the way. They are gentle bees and unless you are rough with them they don’t sting.  Anyone can provide housing for mason bees, either by building it or buying it.  You can simply Google Mason Bees for tons of information on the variety that live in your neck of the woods!
Bee Happy!