Yeah, they move really fast and spook easily.
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In my area, little parasitic wasps come about June and lay their eggs in the cocoons. I put my nest boxes into old pillow cases when the mason girls are done with their nest building. That way I can leave them outside on my porch in a shaded area so that they can still have the benefit of the natural temps and humidity of summer and fall for development…and still protect them from wasps.
One year, the girls got going a little later than usual in my last box to set out. (my fault …not the girls). The girls were not quite done by the beginning of June so I left that nest box out a little longer. BAD IDEA! about 60 - 80% of the cocoons in that box had been destroyed by the wasps. Lesson learned.
I don’t bring my nest boxes in off the porch until we are getting some light freezing temp. I still keep the nests in the pillow cases to protect against spiders and other possible bugs who might want to take up homes in the empty or partially empty nest holes… and put the nest boxes in the coldest corner of my garage. My garage is quite cold but freeze protected. Then about now, January, I take out the cocoons, clean the cocoons with sand and bleach and then store in refrig. until it is time to put them out again. I don’t take the cocoons out of the nest boxes in Oct or so like some bee info suggests because I feel the cocoons probably have a better and more natural environment in their nest holes than I can give them in my refrig… but… mason bees do naturally occur around here.
Don’t know if this plan would work for everyone but seems to work well for me.
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That’s beautiful
I need to build one for my bees as well. I bought one at Costco a couple years ago and that is the one that is tied with string since it has fallen apart and become dilapidated. But the bees completely filled it and placed a No Vacancy sign as you can see, a couple of weeks ago. In the other picture there is a smaller B house on top, which has two small black holes that look like they were punched or drilled into the clay cap that the mother be sealed her brood with. Does any of your experts know what that is? I’m worried that it might’ve been caused by a predator, perhaps a woodpecker???
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Karl, send your prospective tenants my way!
I built this almost two months ago and no takers so far - wonder if it’s just too early or if I have it in the wrong spot (busy street although plenty of flowers around). Last season mason bees were happy to nest in screw holes in the newly built fence…
Not sure about the small holes in your picture
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I guess I could. I probably would have to dismantle the smaller house, and somehow unfurl the cardboard tubes, to remove the Babies. The other house is made of bamboo sticks, so probably a whole sticks have to be mailed, and then next spring they would emerge and presumably inhabit your beautiful vacant bee house.
FYI, this year I actually bought some leaf cutter bees from crown bees.com The problem is, that they mailed them to early, and the temperatures were approaching 70, so the poor critters all disappeared. I fear that they perished. My mason bees are all fair isle, and have come from the adjacent forest land
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Hey, I was kidding but thanks for considering it! I’ll wait and hope they find it. Just planted a meadow around it, so that might help.
Well, if they don’t come, reach out to me and I’ll send you some
Urbangardener, I miss Pittsburgh. I lived there from 1986 when I started high school until 1995 when I finished college. I lived in Squirrelhill, and had a nice garden in my parents house. I do not miss the climate though, since compared to my current Baltimore area the winters were dramatically worse.
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Now my bees are enjoying the BEE totem pole, (at its head is my Heliostat (Sunflower III). It provides sunlight into my formerly gloomy north-facing kitchen all day, and the happy basil in the foreground can testify how much of a difference it makes 
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I have been finding small black bees (mason bees?) hiding out in the cracks and gaps on the swings of my kids swing set. Freaked me out a little bit the other day because I put my one year old in the baby swing and pushed him for several minutes, all the while I kept hearing a muffled buzzing noise. Finally I determined it was coming from the swing, so I quickly removed him and a bunch of bees flew out from where he was sitting!
I noticed a rash on his bottom a few days later, but not sure if he was stung or was just a coincidence, because he didn’t really react while the bees were trapped beneath him. But I don’t really want them in the swings anyway. I tried carefully removing the baby swing and placing it by a fence nearby hoping they would stay there. But they ended up returning to the swing set the next day, taking up residence in the other swings instead.
So, the question is, is their stay in the swings is just temporary? They’ve been disturbed several times but they keep returning. Or should I try drilling some holes in some wood nearby or make a house for them to encourage them to relocate sooner? Not sure if they are even mason bees. At first I thought they were some sort of wasps, as there was a nest nearby in an old compost pile till we recently removed it to make room for a gazebo, but upon closer inspection these guys look more like bees.
I’m not sure about your location,but here,Mason bee activity usually starts in the Spring,when temps get in the 60’s.They fly about,sunning themselves and mating for a week or two.Then the males die and the females go about,collecting pollen and laying eggs.In a few weeks,it’s all over and the new brood are hibernating and growing in their cocoons,waiting til next year.
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A photo of them or where they are nesting? Also keep in mind that mason bees are solitary.
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This time of year, any bees still flying around are not mason bees.
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Same here, if I am making new houses they are in place and ready for new borders by late Feb, I often see them as the first pollinators in my early blossoming trees
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Yeah, after doing some research and reading others responses, they are definitely not mason bees. I knew they weren’t honey bees and they definitely weren’t bumble bees. So I just assumed they were mason bees because those were the only other kind of bees I knew of, haha. But I found a guide on native bees from my local extension and I’m thinking they may be a type of yellow-faced bee. Didn’t take a pic, but I examined one that died in the swing and it looked a lot like the photo from the guide with the distinctive markings on its face. And they do really look a lot like very small wasps, which is what I initially thought I was dealing with.
But I have seen as many as 6 or so, just hiding out in the various swings on the swing set. Anywhere from the holes where the ropes and chains are threaded, to the gaps in the seams between pieces of material or lying inside a folded over seat belt strap.
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I know the topic is mason bees…but has anyone broadened to also leafcutter bees? From a few pics i have seen online they seem to favor the same size holes but nest differently. So what would be an issue with a hotel that houses both leafcutter and mason bees?
I have also seen posts about if you drill holes that are varying in size from very tiny to larger you will get other bees to occupy…
Also from my reading alot of people do the 4 inch deep holes…but if you do 6 inch deep holes you will get 2 more females?
has anyone done smaller holes? like 1/8 1/16? and gotten any small bees?
has anyone done bigger holes and housed carpenter bees?
Bumble bees- has anyone gotten bumblebees to occupy birdhouses? Or is that just a fluke thing?
Hardware cloth- 1/2 inch or 1/4? I have alot of woodpeckers and kingbirds, bluebirds etc…
Just wondering if its a waste of time with the small and big holes.
My mason bees houses host both leafcutter and mason bees. They do fine together. One bee ( leafcutter) requires a larger size opening and the other one ( mason) needs a smaller size opening.
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3/8 and 5/16 holes?
Tonight I discovered this article on mason bee care. Until recently I did not realize I need to retire or clean my houses so I had been researching how it should be done. Your article is very informative and helpful. It also has a pdf that informs about the various pests we need to manage to keep populations growing
Dennis
Kent wa
https://www.ecolandscaping.org/03/landscaping-for-wildlife/beneficialspollinators/attract-mason-bees-no-protective-gear-needed/
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