Well thats a takeoff on what I have decided to call my Mason Bee operation.. Its now MASON BEES METCHOSIN. Below are the latest versions of a poster and simplified yearly directions I have on a business card.
Scroll back through the mason bee postings to see samples of houses made from repurposed/recycled materials.
Note: I have created this 2017 posting to bring it closer to the other mason Bee information
Recently this Mason Bee house has appeared on the market and it has to be one of the worst pieces of equipment I have seen for encouraging mason bees. I have recently sent a request to Costco management requesting that this item be removed from their shelves.
The following are the reasons that I have made this criticism:
1. The tubes are made of bamboo and are impossible to break open to remove cocoons for cleaning to prevent parasitic mite infection. The manufacturer even gives directions to put them back outside in the spring without cleaning out the parasitic mites. This is totally irresponsible as it will lead to an increase in mite population since you are creating a monoculture which encourages parasites.
2. The maximum depth of the tubes is less than 4 inches. Mason bees need at least a 6 inch depth. Also some of them are open ended allowing parastic wasps in the back end as well.
3.The diameter of many of the tubes is away too large. The ideal size for mason bees is 5/16 inch.
4. The diameter of many of the tubes was too small for mason bees.
5. Some of the tubes were glued in upside down with nodes at the front end preventing bees from entering.
6. Many of the tubes had nodes near the centre, rather than at the bottom end, meaning they were less than 2 cm deep and no sane mason bee would use those tubes.
The partial solution if you end up buying one of these things if you can’t return it, is to remove all the tubes as in the video below, and fill them or replace them with disposable phragmites or cardboard tubes.
See an update on how to modify these tubes if you happen to be stuck with having bought a house like this.
ARCHIVAL: This post has been re-dated from 2016 in order to position it closer in the blog to Mason Bee Information
Selling mason bees and reed tubes today proved to be very successful. I had registered for a table selling mason bees cocoons and Phragmites reed-stem tubes at the Victoria Seedy Saturday.
My schedule for attending upcoming Seedy Saturdays is as follows, also you can follow the links to their websites for more details.
February 27: Sooke Seedy Saturday
March 6: Nanaimo Seedy Sunday.
March 12: North Vancouver Seedy Saturday
April 2: Surrey Seedy Saturday
I produced the poster below to identify my location at the seedy Saurdays. A big thankyou to all who were willing to get engaged with raising mason bees and I encourage all those who buy my bees and tubes to give me feedback on their experience with raising them.
NOTE: I have updated this 2015 post in order to make it appear closer to the other mason bee information
On Saturday I set up my display table in the Victoria Conference Centre to sell Mason Bee Cocoons and Phragmites Reed grass tubes for the Seedy Saturday event. I had decided to donate the profits from my sales to the Gofundme project I had started a few weeks ago while I was in Medellin Colombia, so I was able to donate $400.00 from todays profits.
http://www.gofundme.com/f/operation-and-hope-for-jorge
Sir James Douglas, the First Governor of the Colony of Vancouver Island, had a hunting lodge which was partly on our property in Metchosin. At the foot of the property down on Taylor Beach is a large glacial erratic, granite rock. In the top of the rock is a bored hole with a rusted pin at the bottom. In the 1850s, this rock served as a mooring spot for Douglas’s ship when he came out from Victoria. If anyone comes across any further information on the hunting lodge I would love to see it. The video clip below of the rock was taken in January, 2022
As you turn left from the parking lot at Taylor beach the first large glacial erratic you encounter is just off shore; 
Walking further down the beach is a larger pointed rock which served as the mooring device. We call it the Sir James Douglas Rock
When walking the dog on the beach one cant help but notice the wide array of kinds of rock . Here are a few examples of the glacial erratics.
See all my posts on Mason Bees here https://www.gfletcher.ca/?cat=2
Click on the image following for a link to a guide to the ecosystems and features of the area around Pearson College which I prepared in 2008.
I was going up an inclined path in our forest and the front end always being too light, raised up slightly, then slowly rotated to the right and came down gently on a small stump. It landed right on the hydraulic connector lines to the front end bucket. The only way to get it off was to remove the stump… of course afterwards the bucket was not raising properly… . $1400.00 later and it works just fine…!
NOTE: I have updated this 2015 post in order to make it appear closer to the other mason bee information
The Mason bee tubes are generally filled and a mud cap can be seen plugging the hole of the tube by the end of April-May and no further activity will be seen. It is best to not disturb the tubes for several weeks as the eggs are delicately placed on the stored food materials in each capsule and they take several weeks to get firmly implanted.
Any time after October you can open the tubes and clean the cocoons of parasites for storage over winter in a refrigerator or a cool place outside protected from mice and birds. Some tubes may appear empty. Use a wire or a small round file to check.
Unused tubes may be used again but only if they are clean and parasite free.
‘
