The end of the tube was bunged up with mud, so it must be something that mimics the mason bees besting behaviour
The mason bee still makes the nest and lays its own eggs but the wasp sneaks in and lays its own eggs in the bee's brood chambers. The wasp larvae hatch first and eat the bee egg and the cache of food that the bee left there. Or similar depending on the type of wasp. These may turn out to be the ruby tailed wasps you see hanging around the hotels. If you keep them in a container with air holes and let them morph into wasps then we'll know for sure.
I'll do that, thanks.
Gave my G Pilkington box a clean and a coat of Osmo oil ready for this seasons. They didn't touch it last year, favouring the cheap drainpipe with cardboard tubes instead.
Oh no! I have my bee boxes stored in my unheated porch and it got too warm today. Lots of bees hatched. I saw the walls and windows covered in poo and found new bees all over the place. I will put the boxes out in the garden tomorrow, in case the hatching process has started for all. I hope the rest will be ok. London is hitting 20oC next week, but there isn't much forage out yet. The ones that hatched today might die as they need to eat right away and I only just spotted them as it was getting dark.
I definitely won't over winter my bee boxes in the porch again. It's very cold (but frost free) over winter. I'm kicking myself for not noticing the temp change in there. It's tricky to know where to put them that is cool, frost free and out of the way of spiders. My shed is full of spiders and not in direct sun, so maybe I should put the boxes in seal jelly making bags in the shed instead next year.
I put a plate out with some cotton wool pads soaked in sugar water and put a lump of honey by too. It was quite amazing to see their mouth parts eating. Most bees seemed to happlily revive. I scooped them up and put them outside but we're still close to freezing outside during the nights and there aren't many flowering plants out yet. It will be a few weeks yet before the forgetmenots really get going - so the timing feels really off. There is some cherry blossom around, hopefully that will be enough. They usually emerge mid to late April, but it is temp dependent.
I feel like a bad parent who dropped the ball. I will carefully inspect the other boxes. I wonder if I should put the boxes in the fridge.... Fridging the cocoons is commonly recommended, though it may be a bit late in the day for that.
I was about to ask when the hatching period starts. I've got some leaf cutter and mason cocoons. Some are in plastic tubs with air holes stored in a cool area of my garage, and some are in the G Pilkington box on the patio.
I just checked my photos and my mason bees fledged in mid May last year. It was a very cold spring though and things are always a couple of weeks late up here. My wife said she saw a lot of mining bees hatching out of a mud bank while she was walking this week.
If you can keep your head, while those around you are losing theirs, you may not have grasped the seriousness of the situation.
We're usually mid to late April for masons. They will be ok now as long as there is enough to eat. The sunny week should bring on the blooming a bit faster; giving a kick to the forgetmenot "lawn".
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Gave my G Pilkington box a clean and a coat of Osmo oil ready for this seasons. They didn't touch it last year, favouring the cheap drainpipe with cardboard tubes instead.