This is a video about Mason bees and how to make a simple and easy Mason bee nesting site. I hope you enjoy the video. Here is an Amazon affiliate link for the straws: amzn.to/4boD4CK

This is better than National Geographic. Very interesting.

I was drilling holes in 2x4s to bolt together for a bench top for my shop. Every time I pulled the bit out, a Mason Bee would check it out for "suitability". I drilled a mess of holes in a block of wood, just for them. They're cool little bees, and like you said, very active pollinators. Great vid Chigg!

I like the Shriner bees with their little cars and fez's.

Been hosting a ton of Osmia lignaria blue orchard mason bees, had my wildlife professor type one of the first males to pop out this spring, lovely little guys

Thank you! Saving history and Earth! We all live together!

Show time! Always something more for me to learn.

Well, I learned something new today! I'd never heard of a Mason Bee before! Very interesting! Thank you for sharing ❤

Always great to "bee" with Prof. Chigg and learn something new! 🐝

I’m in the UK and we have the Red Mason bee. I’m putting a paper straw bundle under the eves of my shed tomorrow thanks to this video. It’s pretty well dry under there year round so I’m sure they’ll be fine. Thanks 🙏

I have them nesting in the siding of the house. Very cool. I am in the mountains of the Alps and the winters here can get very cold.

Thanks for the info! I didn't know that about Mason bees.

Awesome 🐝🐝🐝🐝🐝

I'm going to make some. Thanks Chigg !

thanks for the update on the bee tube, I'll tell a couple gardeners I know about it

Tha so for another educational vid chig , appreciate the constant content 👍

Outstanding video

I always enjoy when you let the biologist out :)

I enjoy arts and crafts time with uncle chiggles 👍🏻

Interesting indeed.liked that well done Chigg. I don,t have mason bees, but we have a few hundred types of native bees, and the one that lives in my area gives honey. I have my own hive of them. I also drilled holes in hardwood for many of the other native bees to use. Which they do.

Thank you so much. For your great tips. I just moved in the area 3 years ago. I’ve already planted 25 fruit trees. Getting ready to plant the nut trees. All antique varieties.

Clever! BEE sure to place your nesting holes around 5" from the ground, near some native flowers, in an area that will get sunlight from the South. Their radius is about 300" square feet from their nesting holes. Keep us updated!

Thanks Chigg! ❤🎉

This was an amazing video.. I have always loved that your videos are fun, inspiring, informative and exciting. Thank you

I knew I kept all those 4 x 4 blocks from my new fence for some reason! Thanks Beau!

What a cool little project!

Very cool!

Thankyou for the advice sir. I've concluded knowledge from you and some apiarists that this is a friendly way to move forward. Encore merci

Very interesting Chig. Rk

Thanks Chigg, I will be making a few Mason Bee homes. Take care my friend 👍

Love the Bees!

I made a bunch of field homes for my brother's farm, for these little bees. Simple bamboo packs. 6 of them tied to a pole (also bamboo) with a tin cone roof made with an auger calculator online. He sticks a bunch of them some 10~15 meters apart and the little fellows come in, find a spot they like and make their homes. He's seen even tree per pole in some cases. But... the cold issue is valid. There's less of them than there used to be a decade ago.

Thanks Chigg !!! I was the one who asked about the straws you had hanging. 🇺🇸🫡

My straws arrived. Had to revisit your instructions. 😊

I've never heard if them! I'm gonna make them a home sweet home!

It helps to have well-watered potted plants nearby for a source of "masonry" to plug the holes.

Most interesting

Great information!!! I think I've seen them in my area we are pucky not to get down to 32 very often at all!!!

I put "Bee Bars" in my Garden, Little bowls of rocks and sugar water, Bee's land on the rocks and get a drink, they like it.

Cleaned my truck after hauling gravel today. Removed all the old rear window stickers except my Chigg’s army one.

Thanks for the education!

Excellent video Beau. In Canada you can buy Mason Bee tube nests ready made to help with pollination. They are great little critters for vegetable gardens..

What a cool video. Never heard of mason bees. I have those straws in my cart gonna order them early next week

In my town we have a lot of leaf cutter bees. They are very similar to the mason bees except they cut sections of foliage to wall off their brood nests instead of using mud. The same type of nest will work for the leaf cutter bees.

Thank you good stuff. Enjoy the video and will make some mason bee nest.

Well thanks chig you answered my question in detail and it was very interesting for sure had no idea mason bees existed let alone were waaaaay better at pollination. Thanks for sharing see you on the next one👍🏼👊🏼

You're the best!

thanks for sharing...

Fantastic video!

Thank you for explaining the mason bees.

Cool

Good morning from Southeast South Dakota

Thank you. We have them here in Libby Montana. I will be doing this. Thank you

Thanks! Never heard of Mason bees.

Good evening chigg thanks for the very interesting video and putting your time into it I hadn't realised that these little bee's are so clever and very important in our lives thanks again take care from I.O.W Hampshire England

I’m going to try it. Thanks Chigg

You can buy ready-made bamboo tube mason bee houses.....more expensive but all ready to hang.

thank you chigg

Wonderful video Chigg!!! Whatever we can do to promote bees is a good thing. 👏👏👏👏

Last year I had Cicada Killer Wasps that were burrowed into my front flower garden. They were enormous, but generally docile to humans. It still startles you every time one comes and and flys near your face lol. I’m wondering if they’re going to make a return this year. This kind of bee stuff interests me.

Thanks for this information on how to help one of our native bees.

Love the nature episodes. You do a great job presenting and packing in the facts in an interesting way. 👏

Thank you!! I love learning something new!! Ill have to put up a nesting site fir them!

Very interesting and something simple we can do. Will see if they around my area. Thanks for the info, Beau.

Second year for my mason bees. Its all full again gotta buy some paper straws

Dont worry, BEE happy. 😀 Great info Chigg. I will have to give that a try. Thanks for the video.

I've built bee boxes and filled them up with small hollow cane tubes. Place the bee box 18 to 20 inches above the ground at the edge of your garden. They are great pollinators and interesting to watch.

Thanks for the info. I shared with my daughter.

Thanks for the plug (no pun intended) Every year we see them trying to nest in my moms old windchimes.I will try to do more to make them a home. Did not know their pollination habits ! Good information !

Chigs got HAIR! Full head!

Wow didn't know about them thanks for sharing the info and how to make a nest for them! I will make a few! :)

I really enjoyed this video Chig! My mother and stepdad raise honey bees here in Texas and we need to make some of these nests to put around the property!

Chigg, LONG TIME VIEWER & SUB.....I live in the semi desert and we have mason bees. Simple DYI for people wanting to do this. Fun to do with kids as young as 5 to 7. That is more eye appealing. Buy a bird house and cut the front off of it. Cut the bambo to 3 inches in length, do not like Chigg said. Dont use use bambo that is larger than 1/2 in width. So back to bird house. Fill the bird house with the cut bambo pieces, hot glue will hold them in place. Dont worry the bees will also nest in the blank spaces around the bamboo if it is kept dry. Just make sure the backs of the pieces are against the back flush. They will come back every year. I have honey bees, 8 hives. All of my bees are russian and italian bees. They could really careless what the other is doing. I have often seen the two types of bees in the same flower at same time. ~ Mid Columbia Bee Keeper.

I just ordered my paper staws on Amazon chigg . Should have my nesting sites up next week.

In Australia we don't have these species as far as I'm aware (at least in the North)... however we do get a few species of Mud Dauber Wasps that will make their nests in same types of locations. They'll find any hole suitable size they can find, typically in garage where all sorts of things laying about, prepare the hole by building a mud lining/wall in the hole, lay the single egg for their larvae inside, find a small spider, paralyze it with sting, sometimes they'll bite the spiders legs off as well -- stuff the spider in the hole with the egg/larvae... and then seal it shut. When egg hatches inside the wasp larvae has food waiting in the form of paralyzed/legless spider, and eventually it'll emerge a new adult wasp -- ready to find a mate and repeat the process. Cool to watch but kind of annoying as well as they make their nests in often the most annoying of places. Many species will actually build the tube completely out of mud as well, so no tube/hole necessary. The things are everywhere around the house.

How cool is that! I have a couple honey hives, and can identify the carpenter bees and the usual ones that sting like the dickins, but I don’t recall ever hearing about Mason Bees! Yeah I’m gonna have to make a straw hive and see what happens! Thanks for doing this video! And all the videos you do, just love watching and learning!

Thanks Chigg, good info... They are using the spent .223 brass that's inside the shooting shack... Might bunch some of them together 👍

You probably have a lot of misc expenses, like a lot of straws to make homes for an important part of our environment. Just a little bump as you know I appreciate all you share. Thanks so much, Beau.

Doh! My wife made some kick-ass burgers, and I was stuffing my face.

Orchard Mason bees in Oregon and Washington , may have to talk a friend into setting up a few " homes " for some

Thanks Chig, its gettin bad up here in PA... I'll make these and see what happens.

Thanks Chiggs for showing us what works best with the paper straws. We have honey, wasps,hornets, bumble bees and mud droppers in our state. I guess mason bees, but I have never seen them.👍👏

We have a bridal wreath bush that the mason bees love and they have a good relationship with my honey bees

Thanks, good video brother. Plan to make a few, already plant flowers for Honey Bees, save the world don't ya know.

I live in Huntington WV. I just ordered the straws from Amazon.

Thank you Chigg, I wonder if they are in Denver, Colorado. It would be so cool if they are because I will put nests of straws everywhere. I plant many many flowers and also a vegetable garden. I have many bird feeders, hummingbird feeders, squirrels eat the bird seed too, but I would love to have more bees. The only drawback is that there is a 5G pole less than 100 feet of my property and I notices that I don't have as many honeybees as I used to. My property is small, 6129 sq. feet but I still have room for everything. You are so cool and knowledgeable about most everything!

Hi Chigg! We have Orchard Mason Bees in Arizona. Doesn't freeze that often, but it can get to the 40s in the winter where I am. I've caught a few of them around in the city, but I've never seen as many as you had in the video.

Nice, I'll put some next to my almond trees.

I like Mason bees but my favorite bees are Boo Bees.

BE all you can BE go ARMY.

I have a basketball hoop by my pool and the plastic bracket has small holes in in that these suckers plug up every year. So they will use plastic. I've also seen them plug up the water stream nozzle on an outboard motor. Cincinnati If that's important

this morning, I heard the first inkling of cicadas coming alive. It's going to be a loud one.

This was fascinating. But I live in SoCal and we don’t have much freezing around here so I guess Mason Bees wouldn’t enjoy this environment. 😬

Ok im in Frederick Co. VA you i know are familure with it will. We do have these bee in Gore, VA. I find them yearly and have for about 4 years now. Also id love to some point meet you

1st

Extremely interesting video Chigg! I would love to get some paper straws and do that myself, but I live in South Florida, where it doesn’t get cold so I wonder if it would work at all since I assume they’re no mason bees here.

Chigg, were you an electrician in your earlier years? I ask because of that pair of blue angled side cutters. Also, what do you call them when you have two of them?

I'm in Harpers Ferry area and will try this for sure. Can you put the nest where there are bumble bees around or bird feeders, or is it better somewhere quieter?

Cool It Will Work For Dirt-Dobber's To. 😎👍✌

Mason bees come out at lower temps. That means they are great for the apple tree pollination. Mason bees 40 degrees. Regular bees 50 degrees.