Busy Bees!

Honey bee populations are in danger around the world.

A serious problem in Europe and the United States for decades, sudden bee colony losses are now surfacing in China, Japan and along the Egyptian Nile in Africa.

This is a big deal because:

Bees are integral to agriculture: Of the roughly 100 crop species that provide 90 per cent of food worldwide, the UN food agency estimates 71 are pollinated by bees.

source

The UN has just put out a report noting the global spread of honeybee collapse. Some possible causes are pesticides, parasites, viruses, fungi, & decreased plant diversity.

Of course the causes are important to sort out but in the meantime, here's how YOU can help your farmers, your neighbourhood orchards, your own fruit trees AND have a perennially fun science unit at the same time.

Enter: MASON BEES

Photo from BC Ministry of Agriculture

Mason bees are small native bees. You might have seen them & thought they were large flies. According to Wikipedia, there are over 130 species of mason bees in North America that are active from spring through late summer.

Mason bees are great pollinators and they're docile - you can observe them with little fear of being stung. Ours have been very brave, letting us approach and examine them quite closely.

In nature, they like to make their nests in small holes in trees and they need a bit of mud to seal up the egg cells, so your garden needs to have some source of moisture.

If you want to encourage populations of mason bees, you should provide a special house, like this:

Photo from Beediverse.com

These tubes are disposable (which helps prevent parasitic overwintering). You can make replacement ones out of plain paper, rolling it around a thick pencil.

In the fall, the cocoons can be collected from the tubes. In fact, many experts recommend it so they can be washed (to remove mites which are formidable parasites) & carefully dried. This is a neat opportunity to examine the cocoons.

When temps in the spring are steady around 10C, it's time to put the cocoons in small box (to protect from birds & rain). Make a hole in the box & place it near where your prepared mason houses & clean tubes are set out. Within 3 days you'll see bees emerging! They often hang around after hatching so you will have many chances to observe them.

If you're not sure if you have any mason bees in your neighbourhood, or you want to augment the population, you can purchase cocoons for release.

For more information about mason bees:

Bee Gardens - PDF. how to make your garden inviting to bees. Includes instructions on make your own bee houses & plant selection.  From Lifecycles

Let me tell you 'bout the bees! - PDF. 8 page printable covers information about honey bees & native pollinators. Thorough & engagingly presented. From Lifecycles 

Photographic chart of  mason bee life cycle from Xerces

Also at Xerces - native bee biology and  teacher resources

Beediverse.com - you can buy habitats, books (we have Pollination with Mason Bees by Margriet Dogterom) & even cocoons! But before ordering cocoons, contact Dr. Dogterom to find out if they're suitable/available for your area. You may also wish to contact your local provincial/state agriculture office to discuss native bees.

BC Agriculture Fact Sheet on the Blue Orchard Mason Bee

and good old Wikipedia

I hope you give mason bees a home in your garden!