Thursday, March 14, 2013

No Cost Mason Bee Service

Male Blue Orchard Bee
I just wanted to put a a quick post about a no cost mason bee service we are offering.  Head over to BeePreserve.com for more details.  In a nutshell Mason Bees are a solitary, sting-less bee that provides great pollination for fruit trees, and ornamental plants.  Their numbers are limited due to pests and limited range. 

Though management of  them we are able to increase their numbers, which provides more bees to more backyard gardeners, orchardists and insect lovers.  Eventually we will be able to offer pollination services to local orchards and farms. 

Basically the Bee Partner Program works like this:  If you have a good yard full of springtime blooms (fruit trees, shrubs and ornamental plants) and a source of mud. We will provide you with mason bee house and nesting block and some mason bees still cozy in their cocoons. 

You take care of these bees for about 3 months by simply;
  • putting up the house on the south or southeast side of your house or other solid structure
  • Give them a little mud to use in their nesting process. see Mud is the Key.
  • Keep an eye on them for insect eating birds
  • Don't use any pesticides in your yard
We pick them back up after about 3 or 4 months and take them into a protected environment where they are kept from pests and under climatically controlled conditions.   Late in the fall we go through all of the nesting blocks and tubes and extract out the cocoons and clean out the mud and pests.  We store them in the right temperature and humidity until the next spring when we repeat the process and share the surpluses with others in the area.

We are currently operating in the "4 corners" area of Texas, Oklahoma, Arkansas and Louisiana.  We also have a program staring up in a couple areas of Utah in spring 2014.  Click Here to become a Bee Partner.  If you do not live in these areas, feel free to contact us, we may be able to put together a remote program for you and some friends or hook you up with a closer program if one is available.

For more info please visit us at BeePreserve.com were we not only are working to preserve our bees but create Bee Preserves where they can thrive.

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