These are my new leafcutter mason bee cocoons I received today:


This is what they will look like:





I put them in the fridge to save till summer. I got them because we have very few honeybees left here.
I also got some hornfaced mason bees which are active in the spring. They look like this:





Very bee like aren't they?
This is where they put their cocoons:




The smaller insert on the left is for the leafcutter bees. I guess they are smaller bees.

No one else has mason bees??????

HI Texaskitty I'm sure there are others with mason bees but they haven't popped in yet.

We just have honey bees here that we tend all other bees fend for themselves so I don't know enough about mason bees to help anyone.

But I'd be happy for you to share what you know about them here.

Kitty, are Mason Bees better than honey bees as pollinators?

There are supposed to be better. I think I remember the numbers rate was 1 mason is worth 100 honeybees. The other benefits are:
1. You don't have to feed them winters, as they go dormant.
2. They stay within about a 100 foot area pollinating
3. Honey bees are dying off, masons are not
4. They don't make honey
5. They do a better job of spreading pollen around, as their main purpose in life is collecting pollen
6. If you leave them unmolested, they don't sting
7. They don't live in a hive

Having said that - I just got them this year, but I'll give you an update on what I think when I put them out

That is very interesting. Yes, it will be good to be able to follow how you go.

Well, I put the bee house up today. These are the hornfaced bee cocoons:


And this is the house:

Do you put the cacoons in the house to hatch?

They are in that little jar and its shoved to the back of the triangle roof. If they hatch there, they can find their way back easily.

I found this cool looking domicile for Mason bees on Pinterest yesterday.



Looks like an easily repeatable design. I think you could rout long lengths of board. Then just cut the lengths you need and assemble the stacks.

I'm with Gleni, I would have assumed to place the cocoons in the tubes for hatching...I learn something new every day

The tubes are where the hatched cocoons make more coccons. Complete with mud plugs front and back, and pollen in the middle, with one egg. Whatever you do, don't drill holes in a clump of wood. No way to get the cocoons out, clean for following year, or brush out possible mites.

More great info!

Well, I put out the hornfaced spring bees. And every one of them hatched and flew away to live elsewhere. Even thou I had everything they needed right there. Hopefully, the leafcutter summer mason bees will stick around. That's really when I need a pollinator, anyway.

How ungrateful. But may be they are just around the corner for now.

OK, update on summer leafcutter mason bees. They are hatching, I think i see them in my garden. Hard to tell, as they are about honeybee size. Not one of them has put a cocoon in my very expensive chalet. They have to be putting them somewhere nearby, however. Maybe next year they will. My opinion of the mason bees would be to skip the spring time bees, as the veggies aren't blooming then anyway. At least here in TX. That leaves the leafcutter bees. My garden has much more veggies than last year.

Great news to hear they are improving your veggie harvest.
Maybe that expensive chalet needs to age a bit before they will consider it suitable to make their cocoons ins?

I bought a aged one, which costs more. I think the seller gives instructions that don't necessarily work. Like having a nesting chalet. I have emailed them about the bees not nesting in the chalet they hatched from. I didn't ask for a refund, I just wanted him to know his instructions don't work. He insists I must have done something wrong. Which annoyed me, so I can't recommend getting supplies from them.

First time I've ever done leaf cutter bees. I'm in zone 7a and I haven't seen any hatch yet. Is it too early? I'm afraid I have the house mounted too high (5 ft from the porch but about 7ish feet from the ground.) Maybe I'm being too impatient

Mine started hatching 1 month after I put them out, but its hot in TX. They are supposed to take two months. Who did you buy them from? FYI - they hatched right on top the house, but none of them are making coccoons in the house. I'm assuming they have to be nearby, though i haven't seen any round holes in the leaves either.

I got mine from a local shop thinking that they were local, turned out they got them from Washington state. Which is very different from east Tn, it just started hitting the 80s/90s consistently only recently, so hopefully it's just not hot enough? I think I've had it up for at least 2 months probably more than 2 months.