By Michelle Forbes

The last few years have been filled with the refrain of “Save the bees!” It is a good idea, of course. Bees help to pollenate crops, and are therefore necessary to helping humans survive, and the bees habitats are being taken over, especially in urban centres.

But how can people help preserve the habitats and bring back the bees?

In the heart of Kimberley’s Platzl, Randy Moody spends his days educating people about bees and jarring up honey, when he is not out with his beehives. A mason bee map shows the locations where people will be keeping mason bees in Kimberley this year.

“Mason bees,” Moody explains, “are native to this area, as they are in most of North America.” And the mason bees are the bees that people are helping bring back, one bee house at a time.

It is a movement that started on B.C.’s coast, in the Lower Mainland, and Kimberley is now also joining the movement.

Mason bees (pictured above) are different from other bees in several ways. They are a solitary bee that avoids people when possible. While a honey bee may travel three to five km from their hive, a mason bee travels only 100 metres from their home, so the pollination and the impact is much more local, and those who set up mason bee houses in their gardens will see a direct benefit from the bees.

For those worrying about getting stung, Moody says that there is no anaphylaxis associated with the mason bee sting, and equates it to being stung by a mosquito. Also, because they tend to avoid people, the risk of being stung is much lower. The mason bees are excellent pollinators, since they feed nectar and pollen to their young, so they are always actively seeking nectar. While some insects or bees prefer some plants over others, the mason bees are general pollinators, and will pollenate a huge variety of plants.

Mason bees fly at a much cooler temperature than other bees, and live for about six weeks in the spring, after which time they can be replaced by the leaf cutter bee, which is a similar bee, but lives during the summer months instead.

Some people keep both the mason bees and leaf cutter bees in the same house. The leaf cutter bees prefer a six mm tube to live in, while the mason bees prefer an eight mm tube, so some smaller tubes can be inserted into the larger ones to make it accessible to both types of bees.

Moody says that he has often seen bee houses carried at craft stores, but cautions that these are not always built correctly, if the builder does not understand all of the specifications about mason bee habitats.

Since mason bees fly in cooler weather, they help pollenate early in the season, leading to a longer growing season, and a better crop. Mason bees can be purchased as mature adults, ready to hatch, much like a butterfly in a chrysalis, Moody explains, and while the first year a box of purchased eggs will offer 20 bees, those bees will have eggs, which will mature over the winter, and emerge into about 100 bees the following year, and continue growing the number of bees each year to help the local gardens, as well as helping give the mason bees an urban habitat.

Moody Bee will offer a workshop in the fall to show people how to clean their bee houses to ensure the bees are kept healthy. Although Moody Bee is currently sold out of the mason bees, it is expecting a shipment of leaf cutter bees in late June.

For more information, Moody suggests the Crown Bee website (Crown Bees – the Native Bee Experts) or the Bee Diverse website (Mason Bee Houses, Cocoons and Leafcutter Bees by Beediverse), which have a variety of information about both mason bees and leaf cutter bees. You can also check out Moody Bee at: Moodybee Lipbalm & Honey Products | Home

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