My friend got a Mason bee house, like this one. Mason bees? I had never heard of them. So I had to google and learn. Come one below for info.
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Mason bees are solitary bees that don’t make a hive, don’t make a honey comb or honey, and live in holes in wood, crevices and other small places.
The male bees emerge from their cocoons before the female bees and wait around for them to make their appearance. The females mate with several males, who all die off rather quickly, leaving the female to take care of business.
She selects a nest area in a hollow reed or hole in wood left by other insects. She starts collecting pollen to make a pollen mass which she lays a single egg on. Then she walls that egg up with mud and starts the process all over again until the tube is full She lays female eggs in the back of the tube and the males in the front. When the tube is filled, she seals the end and goes off to find another nest.
The eggs hatch and the larva eat all the pollen and then spin a cocoon. They mature over the winter in hibernation.
To increase your bee population, you can collect the cocoons while they are dormant and bring them in for the winter to protect them while they mature. There are groups that will take your cocoons, raise the bees and distribute them over wide areas.
Mason bees are very docile, not aggressive and seldom sting. Their stinger is very small and has no barb so the sting is not painful. They are easy to handle, excellent pollinators and a big help to the honey bee which has been under such stress in the last years. They are also quite pretty.