The Perennial Agriculturalist: June 2024

Friday, June 14, 2024

arrival

fed-x delivered the bee cocoons on the twelfth and, as usual, i put the tube n the refrigerator for fifteen minutes to calm down any bees that hatched out ( always the boys ) in transit and then took it outside...

i was mildly surprised to find no active, if somewhat dopey, bees when i opened the tube...

and even moreso when i began to pour out the cocooons...

i placed the cocoons in the hatchery...

secured the anti-critter netting...

and zip-tied down the roof...

as i got to the end of the tube three of the boys that had hatched out in transit did appear, however by that time they had warmed enough to be fully operational and off they flew before i actually got any good photos...

they seemed pleased to be out of the tube and out in the world, going off to explore...

last year one of the hatched boys was missing a wing...he hung around the hatchery for a while and then vanished...i'd like to think to safety however there are a lot of predators in the yard...the good news this year is everyone took off with an even chance...always good to find a plus...i will keep an eye out for hatching girls...they keep to their own schedule so keeping an eye out may not equate to seeing.

Tuesday, June 11, 2024

preparedness

it was a busy season for mason bees out back...however their season is over...so...

i took down the boxes they have nested in...

and placed them in preditor resistant mesh bags then put them away in the tool shed...

after which i placed new bee houses in the old sites...

then i spruced up the hatchery and placed new cardboard on one end to black it out, leaving the other open...why? tomorrow my leaf cutter cocoons arrive and they need places to both hatch and to nest...one hopes for as active a leaf cutter season as the masons produced...we will see...in the meantime there will be an arrival blog soon enough.