Saturday, May 30, 2015

mason bee failure

the top photo is what the mason bee house looked like yesterday evening...the second photo is what it looked like when i went out back this morning...ravaged...probably by the damned squirrels...with reeds strewn all over the ground ( third photo )...after the irritation died down and i began to assess damage by looking at the reeds i discovered some of the meal had been left behind and the remains were unhatched bee larvae...even though i [reserved them in the vegetable crisper ( per the vendor's instructions ) until the proper climatic conditions were reached before putting them out some of the larvae clearly did not survive...so..i will let the reeds dry ( it rained here this morning ) replace them in the bee house ( after i fortify it with chicken wire as i did the leaf cutter house in the bottom photo )and try to perhaps provide an environment for some more local small bees to utilize...i believe my mason bee consumer days may be limited...we'll see how the leaf cutters do...it has not been a particularly exhilarating start to the day.

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