Shoebox Dwelling Raising Gentle Bees for your Backyard « The Self-Sufficient Gardener Today’s entry is a guest post by Dave Hunter from www.crownbees.com Honey bees are having challenges today with Colony Collapse Disorder, pesticides, global weather changes, nasty mites and a few more maladies. I’m sure you’ve read much of this bad news in recent years. Although scientists are working feverishly to help this wonderful bee, their numbers continue to decrease. You need pollination for your fruit trees and garden. In this article,you’ll learn about: The bee kingdom and why many of the bees are gentleA bit about solitary bee life spansWhat bees are available to pollinateSpring mason bees and what you need to raise them The bee kingdom has both social and solitary bees. The bee kingdom has two different types of bees; social (honey bees, bumble bees), and solitary (where every female is a queen and they assume all duties. ) In general, social bees, hornets, and wasps work in a community where each has their own job. Working bees don’t live that long Spring pollen in your yard.
Miγma Ideas The Bee’s Purpose | Crownbees Mason bees are very productive pollen gatherers. They carry pollen on the underside of their abdomen and then scrape the pollen off within their nesting hole. Because the pollen is carried dry on their hair, it is more easily transferred, resulting in significantly more pollinated flowers than their cousin, the honey bee, who wet the pollen they carry on their legs. Honey bees assume different roles in their six week life. The spring blue orchard and hornfaced bee’s purpose is quite simple: To be one of the first emerging bees in spring, just in time to coincide with early blooming fruit and nut trees. These gentle bees collect pollen for their offspring!
Seongyong Lee Encouraging Native Bees with Insect Walls image from buzzy bee girl (a great blog about bees) Bees are on the decline, particularly honey bees. Without bees and other pollinators, every gardener knows that plants just won’t do what they are meant to. This summer, I noticed in my own garden the proliferation of squash blossoms that never became zucchini and pumpkins, instead languishing on the vine, unfertilized. I am inspired by insect walls and want to try my hand a creating one of these textural masterpieces. Bee walls and bee houses can help to bring back solitary, native and stingless bees that, while they do not make honey, will provide the pollination mechanism that is needed to maintain biodiversity and healthy gardens and plants. These German bee houses and insect walls were found at Wildbienen (Wild Bee) which with a little google translation, provides a wealth of information about making this visually interesting garden features.
Design You Trust – Social design inspiration! Native Bees | BEE KEEPING For those of you who missed January’s meeting on native pollinators by Shelley Small here are her links: U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service The Xerces Society Pollinator Partnership I’d also like to remind you that in addition to your honeybee hives you can also build nests for other bees. Small Insect Tower Small Insect House Small Insect House in garden workalicious How to Make a Bee Hotel What are Solitary Bees ? As well as Bumblebees and Honeybees (that live socially) there are some 200 species of wild bees in the UK that are called 'solitary bees' because they make individual nest cells for their larvae. Some species nest in small tunnels or holes in the ground or in sandy banks, piles of sand, or crumbling mortar. Others use the hollow stems of dead plants such as brambles, or tunnels previously bored into dead wood by beetles. Mason Bees and Leafcutter Bees are well-known examples of solitary bees that are common in gardens. Some species of solitary bee species will group their nest cells together in aggregations, and a few have evolved social behaviour rather like bumblebees. Solitary bees are harmless and not aggressive. If you find them (for example in old house walls) please leave them alone. A number of species are commonly seen in gardens, and they are very useful as they pollinate fruit crops. Constructing a Bee House Bees Take up Residence Beware Birds! More Info