New project for our Outreach program

[Phil S]

Mason bee habitat
Debut of this new project will be this coming week at the Klingspor Extravaganza

And we need some helpers please

Children will cut three pieces of cedar with 60 degree miters using a custom hands-free miter box

Triangle is assembled with 1/4 dowels in thru holes. Spring clamps hold sides together while drilling and pinning. Titebond glue can be added for longevity

Bamboo pieces are glued in to create the Mason Bee chambers

A walnut shell is added for a watering station - every hotel needs a swimming pool

And finally a cord is added for hanging

We have supplies ready to make 60plus bee habitats next Friday and Saturday at the Klingspor Extravaganza in Hickory
Please signup to help

 

[Phil S]

Just made another miter box Different design The kids will show which is better

 

[ScottM]

Great job Phil!!!

 

[tri4sale]

awesome!!

and if anyone asks where to get Mason Bees, I bought mine a few years back at Mason Bees for Sale | Buy Mason Bees House and Mason Bee Kit Online

 

[Gotcha6]

I think Mason Bees would have to be pretty strong to lay bricks..............

 

[pop-pop]

I think Mason Bees would have to be pretty strong to lay bricks..............

Lego bricks, maybe?

 

[Graywolf]

Interestingly enough the Mason Bee is a better pollinator than Honey Bees. So with rural development being what it is, natural habitats are dwindling. So help a Mason Bee out and provide them a home!

 

[tri4sale]

Interestingly enough the Mason Bee is a better pollinator than Honey Bees. So with rural development being what it is, natural habitats are dwindling. So help a Mason Bee out and provide them a home!

and they also are not aggressive like Honey Bees, and rarely sting. Might be good to have a small printout explaining to attendees the advantages of Mason Bees over other pollinators.

 

[tarheelz]

Today I learned...

Cool stuff!

 

[woodworkingshop.com]

How awesome is this! Thank you NCWoodworker.net - young and old kids will love this!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

 

[SabertoothBunny]

Might need to get a couple of mason bee colonies set up to go in my yard with my honey bee colonies....

 

[SabertoothBunny]

Mason Bee good. Wood Boring Bee AKA Carpenter Bee bad. The one that drills perfect half inch holes in all your house trim and even PT deck lumber! Due to the destrustion, I hang TRAPS. I know, good polinators but my shop does need polinating. Now, bumble bees are also great polinators and I encourage as many of them as I can.

I was given a pile of milled walnut that had a carpenter pee colony inside. Made me look like Babe Ruth once I starting planing that lumber....

 

[Barry W]

awesome!!

and if anyone asks where to get Mason Bees, I bought mine a few years back at Mason Bees for Sale | Buy Mason Bees House and Mason Bee Kit Online

I looked at this information and it appears that we will be asked a plethora of questions about mason bees. Maintaining a mason bee house requires a great amount of work which a child may not be committed to. A hand-out with mason bee basics would be helpful.

 

[Phil S]

Margaret, my fiance, wrote a nice article about mason bees. I will have copies to hand out at KE

There are many kinds of bees in the United States, but you are creating a habitat specifically for MASON BEES. Mason bees are more solitary bees that do not live in a hive or make honey or beeswax like other bees you have seen. Their contribution to people is to pollinate crops and flowers to help provide good food to eat and pretty flowers to enjoy. The name "Mason Bee" is due to their habit of using mud or other "masonry" products in constructing their nests. The females prepare their nests but they do not build them entirely. They use gaps like between bricks or stones, holes in wood made by other insects, or hollow stems or tubes. The habitat you made provides the hollow tubes where Mason bees like to lay their eggs. Within a few days of emerging from her own tube, the female has chosen a nest site and has begun to gather pollen and nectar for her nests that will serve as protection, bedding, and food until the young bees emerge. After the nest is prepared, the bee backs into the hole and lays an egg on top of the mass. After the egg is laid, she creates a wall of mud, which is also the back of the next cell. The process continues until the tube is filled with wall, egg, wall, egg, wall, egg, etc.. Female eggs are laid in the back of the nest and male eggs toward the front, and then she creates one more wall to seal the entrance to the tube.
They are very docile and rarely sting when handled (only when they are under distress such as when wet or squeezed). Their sting is not very painful, but those with insect allergies should still be careful and have their medication close by. Thank you for helping to save Mason bees.

 

[Graywolf]

Thanks Margaret and Phil.

 

[Hmerkle]

That is great Phil!
Do you know or did Margret learn in her research if the nests need to be cleaned out and or replaced? If so how often? When is the best time to place one of these habitats?