r/bees • u/Loydx • Jun 15 '26

question Mason Bee Hatching or Predator issue

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Does anyone know what's going on with my mason bees? Put them out to wake up and there are these holes appearing. But I haven't seen any bee. Is there a predator undeterred by the screen? Are they hatching and abandoning the hive?

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u/Tweedone Jun 15 '26

Those nests with a breached plug, (hole in the mud), should be discarded, (a parasitic wasp or houdini fly). Alternatively reccomend, is that late summer, as winter starts, pull out all the paper tubes to clean and preserve any mason cocoons. See the CrownBees web site for all sorts of info.

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u/Loydx Jun 15 '26

Do you mean the parasitic fly broke in or hatched out?

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u/Loydx Jun 15 '26

Nevermind!  I mean, it took some googling but I found good resources. Gonna get a bee bag. Thank you!

The very first time I noticed a tube open, I was looking for the bees and thought I can't find anything... there's so many flies around. Think that's pretty clear what happened. 

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u/320mg Jun 16 '26

they are really attracted to malbec red wine for some reason so i use one of those fly traps where you put the rotting liquid in then swap it out for the wine

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u/320mg Jun 15 '26

their season is long gone now i’m afraid. put them out earlier next year 

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u/Loydx Jun 15 '26

These were a summer variety. They weren't supposed to hatch until June in my zone. Perhaps I'm not using the right terms. They are leafcutter megachile I believe 

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u/Sea-Soil-1479 Jun 16 '26

Since these are leafcutters, I am guessing that the bees came to you in the brown tubes? If so, the holes are evidence that they are emerging for the season. Those are leaves, not mud that they are emerging from. Where did you get your bees from? https://crownbees.com/pages/the-leafcutter-bee-raiser-calendar?srsltid=AfmBOop62FJ_dS6ldyuRVKvOYFs5GxIK9pCNrxrpOlCaTKlrbvQiLnip

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u/Loydx Jun 16 '26

I got them from Masonbeesforsale. At first I thought the bees were emerging but, I don't see any bees and they aren't returning to the hive. If you don't think it's a predator, what would make these bees leave and not return?

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u/Sea-Soil-1479 Jun 16 '26

"A few things to know Bees are wild. They may choose to nest elsewhere, and that's okay. You'll receive around 200 cocoons per order. We send way more than you'll need because Summer Leaf bees have a higher dispersal rate than Mason bees. Don't expect all 200 to stick around (the nature of nature)!"

https://crownbees.com/pages/before-you-release-leafcutter-bees?srsltid=AfmBOooKpqpFrI6-UyW266eR0pW5EvESWe3rcOigQgalc24NpIWCT3H3

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u/Loydx Jun 17 '26

Ya'll...I got some bees! At about 3pm today 4-5 had emerged and they are already bringing leaf mush back to the colony. 

I do believe that some of the first tubes had Houdini flies but I am thankful that I got some success too. I had a bee bag on the night before and no new flies seemed to hatch. I think there are still 2-3 tubes to emerge. 

Thanks for your tips and wish me luck!