bees in the trees II

the top photo is of a tube of alfalfa leaf cutter bee cocoons gathering condensation fresh out of the vegetable crisper...the cocoons in the second photo are rounded on one end ( a tough call on some ) which is the head end an d goes into the reed facing out (third photo )...i used the smallest diameter reed i could find to push the cocoons down and got all one hundred of them loaded into about thirty reeds...the vendor recommended putting chicken wire over the front of the bee house to keep squirrels out ( why they would bother leaf cutter bees but not mason bees[speaking of which, those critters have been out for twenty-two days now and no sign of life...if there isn't movement soon there will be a short, sharp email going out to "mason bees for sale"] is a mystery to me...but i followed their advice and now there are two bee houses in the locust trees and nary a bee around either...yet...more on this as it transpires.