It's been about two weeks since we put up the Orchard Mason Bee house and bee cocoons. First trip back today and the bees are out working.
In fact, seven of the bee tubes are filled already.
Here's what's going on. A female collects pollen from about 75 nearby flowers. She deposits the pollen as a food supply in the back of one of the tubes. An egg is then laid on top of the pollen and she seals it off with a mud wall. Later, the eggs hatch, the larva eats the pollen and then makes a cocoon.
By early summer the egg laying is over and the spring bees die. Each female will lay about 50 eggs but will have made over 60,000 visits to flowers. We will remove the tubes and keep them cool through the winter while the larva changes into a bee, then put them out next spring to start the process all over again.
No honey from Orchard Mason Bees, but they work a lot harder than honey bees in the orchard.
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