Mason bees have returned to Mackin House!
The city of Port Coquitlam allows and encourages beekeeping in the city, as it allows for increased pollination of local plants, flowers, and fruit trees, benefiting everyone as plants begin to become more active in the Spring and Summertime.
Mason bees are a type of solitary bee, meaning they are quite different than the normal honeybee that one often thinks of when bees come to mind. Mason bees do not live in large colonies with a queen, in fact, any female mason bee can lay eggs. Mason bees also do not make any form of honey. For humans, there isn’t any byproduct produced by mason bees that we can use. They are important not for what they make, but for their power to pollinate a large number of different plants.
After emerging from their cocoons, the bees get to work mating before the female bees start to collect pollen to create a supply of food for the future bees in their nests. Female bees may inspect a number of nests before deciding on one they like. The bees fill their nests with pollen and nectar for the offspring larva to feed on before laying their eggs. After finishing their food, the bees create a cocoon to hibernate in for the winter. The bees build up their nests with a number of material types, from clay to chewed plant fibers. The construction that they do on their nests earned them the name of ‘mason.’ The bees hatch and grow inside these nests before emerging the following spring. The bees stack their nests, with males, who hatch first, closer to the surface, and females, who hatch later, deeper into the nest.
Mason bees build their nests in tube like structures, in nature this may be reed plants or old beetle burrows. At Mackin, we have constructed a box for the bees, complete with tubes for them to build their nests in.
Mason bees have a number of advantages as pollinators. Since they primarily collect pollen, they are able to move much more of it to other plants than honeybees, which primarily collect nectar. Some species of Mason bees are native to North America, having been here longer than honeybees; However, different species of mason bees can be found around the world. Mason bees are able to begin pollinating earlier in the spring than other varieties of bees, they are even capable of flying in cooler, and rainier weather. Mason bees have areas along their abdomen to help them collect more pollen, as opposed to the areas on the legs of honeybees that facilitate a similar function. Some sources claim that mason bees are three times better at pollinating plants than honeybees!
Mason bees’ advantages as pollinators have led them to be kept by humans for many years. They provide a boost to local farms, with farmers often keeping nests of them nearby to increase the pollination of crops. If you are having trouble with flowers in your garden, or fruit trees giving good yield, perhaps consider a mason bee nesting box. Unlike honeybees, mason bees are easy to take care of, requiring little to no regular effort on the part of the keeper. It is recommended that the nesting tubes are replaced every 2-3 years, to prevent the buildup of harmful parasites that attack the bees though.
Mason bees love many types of flowers; however, they are particularly fond of purple and blue flowers with a tube-like shape. The mason bees at Mackin house have taken fondly to the lavender planted in our gardens. Some other flowers that mason bees appreciate are black eyes susans, dandelions, and sunflowers. They are also known to like blackberry and raspberry bushes.
Mason bees are a great type of bee to keep around children. They are considered friendly and will rarely sting, a characteristic of many solitary bees, only doing so if they are placed under extreme stress. Even if they do sting, it is not as painful as that of a honeybee or wasp, having been compared to that of a mosquito. This less painful sting is partially due to the fact that the stinger of the honeybee is un-barbed.
Want to learn more? Come visit us at Mackin House to see our nests and gardens, or find more information online about the local laws regarding beekeeping in Coquitlam: Beekeeping in Port Coquitlam - City of Port Coquitlam
This blog is an update of one created the last time mason bees were at Mackin house: Mason Bees at Mackin House — Coquitlam Heritage at Mackin House
