Lots of Activity at the Mason Bee House

Posted on April 13, 2024 by

15 Comments

The mason bees have emerged from their little house, which hangs under the eaves of my big house.

Mason bees are solitary pollinators that nest in tunnels that they seal with mud or clay.

They lay female eggs in the back of the tunnel and male eggs in front, so males emerge first when they hatch in the spring, followed by the females. (Smart little bees, aren’t they?)

After mating the males die and the female looks for a nest.

Then she collects pollen from shrubs and flowers and deposits it inside the chamber. Once she has a sufficient nugget of pollen, she lays an egg on top, then follows up with a partition of mud to seal off the compartment – hence the name mason bee.

She does this repeatedly until the chamber is filled with eggs, then plugs the entrance to the tube.

Inside, the larva eats the pollen, then spins a cocoon and enters the pupal stage, maturing and hibernating through the winter. In spring the males exit the nest first, then females, and the cycle of life continues.

Just another miracle of nature!

~ Susanne

Category: Gardens, NatureTags: , , , , ,

15 Comments on “Lots of Activity at the Mason Bee House”

  2. How kind of you to provide a home for them.

  4. Michigan has what we’ve always called a Mud Dauber. They build elongated tubes of mud to lay eggs in, maybe they are the same bees. If all the males die, the females can’t get any child support… 🤭

  5. Love the explanation! We visited a nature preserve that has these kind of “houses” set up and didn’t have any idea how they were bee houses. Now it all makes sense!

  6. Very nice that you’ve provided a house. Must be fun to watch them at work.

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