Mason Bee

Mason Bee

Mason bees live in small holes in wood or masonry. They look quite small and sleek, and are often blue or red in colour. They are good pollinators so some vegetable and fruit gardeners provide nests made of drilled wood or thin cardboard tubes to encourage mason bees to set up home. Mason bees close off the holes that they nest in with plugs of mud, so if you set up nest for them you can tell when some have moved in. Although mason bees can sting, they are very gentle and must be handled extremely roughly to be provoked into doing so. They are solitary; every female is fertile and makes her own nest, and there are no worker bees for these species. Solitary bees produce neither honey nor beeswax. As such, they make excellent garden "pets", since they both pollinate the plants and are safe for children and pets. The bees emerge from their cocoons in the spring, with males the first to come out. They remain near the nests waiting for the females. When the females emerge, the first thing they do is mate. The males die and the females begin provisioning their nests.