Okay, so....here's a little unknown fact about me: I'm a Mason Bee keeper!! 🐝 💕 I'm starting to get super excited about this year's release!!! I can't wait to see how my fruit trees blossom ❤️ Here's a short vid of one one of my babies from a previous year! Gosh, they're so freakin' cute with their little tufts of hair 😍
@Susandoyle not these ones!! The male cuties do NOT have a stinger and the females NEVER sting.
@Valkyrie_D 😍 YAY! I could cuddle them!
@Susandoyle these bees are singletons (no hive or hive mentality) 😍 Their sole purpose is to have lots of sex, pollinate as much as possible, make cocoons and die. They have very short lifespans!
@Valkyrie_D so me basically but longer life span LOL
@Susandoyle LOL!!!!! Just another reason why I love ya! Yeah, these bees are unique! Mason Bees are at least 120x more effective than Honey or Bumble Bees!! The only downside, is that they do not make honey.
@Valkyrie_D but they pollinate so HUGE job! I do love Bumble Bees too, they fly when they should not ba able to....kinda like humans I know, do what all laws say they can't
@Valkyrie_D: Smol Bee is smol.
@Valkyrie_D that’s so cool!
@Valkyrie_D I love the solitary bees. We always have bug hotels out for them in our garden.
@stueytheround It's hard keeping pests away from the cocoons! They're like sitting ducks for earwigs, etc.
Amazing sight
@Valkyrie_D Mason bees? Like Illuminati? What degree mason? 🤣
@sfleetucker I’m going with 57 degree—because that’s the temp they emerge at 🤣 🐝 💕
@Valkyrie_D well played.
@Valkyrie_D They are essential to pollinate our blueberries & cherry trees in April so we have intentionally provided (rent free) housing for them for many years. Sad they are all gone by June here in the NW. One of Earth’s great creatures!
@GrazingintheGrass yay!!! You’re awesome!!! Thank you for your contribution to nature 🐝 💕❤️
@Valkyrie_D Hello baby 🐝 🥰
@Valkyrie_D That's so stinkin' cool! 😍
@Valkyrie_D - THAT is SO COOL!
🐝 Good On You, Val 🐝
Several years ago, Blondie put out
an album called "Pollinator!"
🖤 Deborah 🐝 Harry 🖤 does a lot of work to raise money to save the bees & make people aware of how
important they are to all of us!
😍🏴☠️
@Studio_M_ oh wow, I didn’t know this about her! I love her even more, now 😍
@Valkyrie_D - 🐝YAY!🐝
🏴☠️ 🖤 🏴☠️
@Valkyrie_D Gone with the wind! Then back again.
@Valkyrie_D sounded like a baby kazoo there at the end 😍
@peeppeepcircus they’re adorable when they first emerge! All that noise and then they spend a little time grooming themselves, then BOOM…. gone 🐝 💕
@Valkyrie_D I think I really really need to look into this!
WOW! 😲 That was totally amazing to watch! So precious! Thank you for sharing that up close and personal view of your new born baby bumble bee! 🐝 💛
@Spagesgallo1 ❤️❤️🐝❤️❤️ These newborns are Blue Orchard Mason bees. They’re singleton bees! 💕
I just read the article about the Blue Mason Bees! What incredible little creatures! Wow! They really are hard workers. The female is incredible! It's just so sad that they have such short life spans!
@Spagesgallo1 I know 😭 It makes me sad. I grow attached to them after keeping them in my home, only to release them knowing that they won't live long lives. ❤️ But, the work they do is amazing and I'm so grateful to them for all they do! 💕
I totally get it! I would grow attached to them as well! After devoting so much love and nurturing them through their evolution, one cannot help but to have a special bond with them! But, agreed! The work that they do truly is amazing! I can't believe how hard the female works every day! It must be so rewarding to see them thrive and grow and repay you for all that you do! 💛🐝
@Spagesgallo1 this may sound a little strange, but I talk to the cocoons, while they’re in hibernation 💕 When they emerge in the spring, sometimes some of them will encircle me before flying off. I kinda think it’s their way of saying, “ Hi” and that they recognize who I am 💕❤️🐝
Oh, hell no! That doesn't sound strange at all! I love that you talk to them while they are in the cocoons, while hibernating! They feel and sense your loving energy! I am not at all surprised that when they emerge that they encircle you before flying off! Yes, it is their way of saying "Hi" and "Thank you "! You helped give them life! Oh goodness, I am getting weepy just visualizing this beautiful encounter! You're the Bee Whisperer! 💛🐝✨️
@Valkyrie_D
Thank you for this wonderful care you give these special Mason Bees! Your the best❤️
@Esther it’s the very least I could do, for a creature that gives us so much! ❤️
The work you do is truly a labor of love! 💛🐝✨️
- I jest opened my garage door to
smoke a seagar & realized all the
buds popped today!
If you look real close, you can see
a gallizion bees buzzin' around the
blossoms!
I tried to film the whole tree, but it
doesn't play on this little format.
Here though, the whole tree is a-buzz!
Debbie Harry, would be proud!!!
🐝 🌼 🐝 🌼 🐝 🌼 🐝
@Studio_M_ omg that’s amazing!!!!! I can definitely hear them buzzing!!! 🐝 💕
@Valkyrie_D Aww I've never seen that before! So cute!
@Valkyrie_D I have two leafcutter bee hives on my back porch. I should get a couple more -
@NorthernInvader oh wow!!!! These are amazing!!!!!!! 😍🐝💕
@Valkyrie_D somewhere, some guy is named “Mason Bee”.
@Valkyrie_D Bees are also one of the first indicators of environmental health.
@Valkyrie_D Oh my gosh that was cute! How long did that take? I have leafcutters. I just let them release themselves on a table and was startled by them when they flew by after hatching. I didn't buy new cocoons so thought I didn't have any more but they were really active this year.
@AnnetteTRemain some take a little longer than others to hatch. They tire easily. I think this particular bee took about 20mins to hatch 🐝 💕
@Valkyrie_D I love that you got that on video. Thank you for sharing it.
@Valkyrie_D I think I will get Mason cocoons next year. I also need a new house because the Mason house I have has tubes and a section with drilled holes in it. Wasps have moved into the drilled hole section. So I am only going to do tubed houses from now on.
@AnnetteTRemain using tubes makes it easier to extract and protect cocoons from predators / parasites!!! 💕🐝
@Valkyrie_D I have two leaf cutter bee "hotels" in my basement for the winter and am making 3 more. I'd love to do some mason bees as well but have heard they don't get along well with leaf cutters.
@NorthernInvader Mason bees prefer larger 8mm holes and leafcutter bees prefer smaller 6mm holes. You can use the same bee house for both bees since they’re active during different seasons (mason bees are active in early spring, while leaf cutters are active in summer). Just swap out the nesting materials for each bee species 🐝 Both species of solitary bee are non-aggressive and much too busy to care about the other and have been known to share a habitat!! 🐝
@Valkyrie_D Not having a drill press has made me rethink how I'm going to get 6" deep holes that stay separate. I figured it out though - a plywood front plate for the box where I only need to drill through it, then paper straws in each hole - turns out they are exactly 6mm in diameter :) and I can cut them to length.
@NorthernInvader awww… yay!!! You’re awesome!! 🤩 🐝💕
@Valkyrie_D 😍 awwwwwwwwwwww I am so thankful for people who keep bees❤️ they will kill me but I love them thank goodness for epinephrine LOL I still stop and help bees when I see them