Beekeeping 101

Native plant gardenWe love hearing from customers who can't believe how easy it is to attract native bees to their Better Bee Houses, and who are so surprised at just how entertaining it is to watch them nest! We often hear that their plants are more vigorous, and their gardens and orchards have become vastly more productive now that native bees are pollinating for them.

Would you like to be more involved in managing your bees?  I love supporting my Mason and Leafcutter Bees, and don't mind getting my hands dirty doing it!  If you're like me, and want to be more hands-on with your bees in order to increase your populations (and mostly because it's really fun), there are many additional things you can do to ensure the good health of your bees.  Following are some more advanced and interactive steps you can take to nurture your bees so they don't expend nesting energy on fighting predators, searching for mud or locating nectar and pollen.

The life cycle of most solitary bees fits into a regular pattern. They overwinter as dormant adults in cocoons, and about the time apple trees begin blooming in the spring, the first Orchard Mason males appear.  Mating between males and females usually occurs at the nest site, with males waiting by the nest for females to emerge.  After mating, the females begin searching for new nest sites, which may be in previously used insect borings in wood, plant canes, underneath clapboard, in masonry weep holes, and of course, in Native Bee houses, if they're lucky enough to find one!