In this longer segment of video it was a little later in the afternoon. Many bees can be seen visiting the boards, some up close and some further down the line. Not alot of action on the top left camera but hoping next year I will have more bees and they will be visiting every single board I made for them. Maybe it will take a couple years to build up a population that large but I am hopeful it will happen quickly.
The bees fly into these holes I made for them, I used a wood router to cut channels into planks of wood. By making two crescent shaped holes I stack them to complete a circle. The bees will go into these holes with pollen, mud or other building material (sometimes even plastic trash). And they will build cells for their offspring, leaving behind pollen for the larva to eat. The adult female Mason bee starts at the back of the holes and works its way all the forward. Laying dozens of larva in each hole. They are separated by cells made of mud by the mason bee, this is where it got its name since it works with mud.
After about seven months the larva forms into a pupa by cocooning its self. At this point I can harvest the pupa and store them in a cool place until next spring time.
In the next few months, I will be doing just that. I open the bee boards by separating the two crescents. And then I use a tool to remove the cocoons. By doing this I can remove pests that have found their way into some of the cocoons. I deal with them but soaking the cocoons in water mixed with essential oils. This will kill any parasites but not harm the bees.
There are tiny wasps that go after the cocoons so by removing them they will not spawn next year as much. I think I may move the boards into a storage box as soon as the female adults are done laying to minimize the wasps ability to attack the bee boards.
This is all the video I have from my 2020 live stream, though I streamed many hours and days worth of content. Looking forward to doing it again next year around late February to early March.
https://peakd.com/hive-101587/@solominer/solitary-bee-cam-replay-part-1
Link to Part 1
LBRY Video Link
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So this oil that you're dipping the cocoon into how long do you actually dip the cocoon into this oil? If it stays long won't it damage the cocoon?
It's a mix of Spearmint and water. It's mostly water with only a few drops of essential oil.
I soak the cocoons in the water for about 10 to 15 minutes. And then they are dried over night before storing.
Oh okay, 10 to 15 minutes seems viable thanks for clarifying this.
Yup, you can only soak them for so long before the oils may start to hurt them. I usually rinse them off afterwards with just normal water when I am done soaking them.
I will post a video when I do this in a few months.