The Oxford Bee Company is a low-technology spinout of academia. They make "nestboxes" for bees. As the picture shows, the "nestboxes" or more properly " nester kits", consist of a plastic cylinder containing an array of cardboard tubes. I had bought two nester kits to put up in my garden, more in hope than expectation. To my delight I found a mason bee had taken up residence and was making frequent visits with a load of pollen in the "basket" under her abdomen. Mason bees, unlike honeybees and bumblebees, lead a solitary life. The female builds several nests, each containing several cells. She stocks each cell with pollen and nectar, lays an egg in it and seals it. When laying is complete, her life's work is finished and her progeny will emerge next spring without ever seeing their mother. If I had extracted the tube from the cylinder and examined the contents, I would have found half a dozen or so cells like carriages in a train. This has led to a long-standing puzzle. If the eggs at the bottom end are laid first, the young bees will emerge from their cells first but will find their way blocked by younger cells. Christopher O'Toole of the Oxford Bee Company resolved this conundrum by fitting transparent panels into mason bee nests. He found that the bee at the bottom of the tube does, indeed, become active first. It chews its way out of the cell and nips the backside of the bee in front. This goads the latter into activity and it, too chews its way out and nips the one in front. And so on - until all the bees are awake and ready to go. For more information, including purchasing "nester kits", look at www.oxbeeco.com
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