An attractive family of mice in one of my Feral hives. I had placed cork above
the colony and the mice chewed a lovely n est into it. They went elsewhere when
I paid a visit .
Eric
________________________________
From: oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <oxnatbees-bounce@xxxxxxxxxxxxx> on behalf
of Oxnatbees <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxx>
Sent: 23 March 2020 13:25
To: oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx <oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxxxxxx>
Subject: [oxnatbees] Re: Lodgers
BTW Shadiya once opened an "empty" hive and found a nest of hornets in it. She
wasn't wearing any protection. She shut it quickly and went away... I think she
returned later in a bee suit and dealt with the nest, which was small at that
time of year.
back in 2018 we had a meeting at her place and she opened an "empty" TBH to
show some newbees what they were like inside, and there was a nest of chicks
(bluetits or some other bird small enough to get in the hive's small round
entrances) in there. They immediately opened their beaks and cheeped at us -
"got any food?" Picture attached.
David Heaf in Wales once found a bat nesting in his Warre roof.
Any other stories / photos along these lines folks?
Paul
On Mon, 23 Mar 2020 at 13:12, Oxnatbees
<oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:oxnatbees@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
So you are raising multiple pollinator types in your garden! Very cool.
I think red mason bees are one of the types of solitary bee which usually lays
its eggs in a tube (ie hollow reed or similar) and the pupae at the back can't
hatch out 'til the ones at the front have got out of the way, which always
strikes me as odd as (a) it's a recipe for disaster and (b) the oldest - first
laid - pupae have to wait for the newest ones to hatch before they can get out.
This nest structure is different, perhaps mason bees prefer this kind of
slot-shaped crevice and only use tubes as a last resort.
We've had frost here this morning in the shade of the house. Did you place them
in a sheltered place?
Paul
On Mon, 23 Mar 2020 at 12:49, Juli Cohen
<juliane.cohen@xxxxxxxxx<mailto:juliane.cohen@xxxxxxxxx>> wrote:
Hi all,
When fixing the top-bar cloths and quilt boxes yesterday we found that the bees
had decided to sublet their residence. We found these very strange looking
things on the side between the quilt box and the roof.
We had no idea what they were so opened one of the pupae up, and there was a
little bee inside. I don’t know what sort it is, but looking on google I think
it could be Osmia bicornis (red mason bee).
We gently scraped them off and left them in a safe place to hatch.
Juli
