"I Brake for Bees"

     Barbara, in northern White County Indiana, started raising leafcutter bees this summer and has had much success. So much so, in fact, that she had to look out for leafcutters when mowing.
     "At one time there were bees coming and going constantly, it seemed," Barbara said. "I have counted 16 tubes filled. Right now no activity, but two weeks ago the bees wouldn't stop working while I was trying to mow. A vibrating John Deere did not phase them! I have all these wonderful flowers for them and they wanted the clover in the grass! I told my daughter that 'I brake for bees!'"
     Barbara released two bunches of 50 alfalfa leafcutter bee cocoons at this nesting house this summer and she and her daughter Shanna have been fascinated to watch the gentle bees at work. A friend built their bee house from lumber Shanna purchased out of the scrap bin at Menard's.
     "We just caulked and stained it. Overall, very inexpensive," Barbara said. 
    Barbara's nesting house faces east-northeast. She put chicken wire over the front to prevent birds or other large pests from disturbing the nesting tubes.
     

​     She also added some natural nesting materials to the tubes she bought from Bees Gone Wild.
     "We broke up twigs and placed them between some of the tubes, below tubes and some in the 'attic,'  Barbara said. "I had read that the bees can tell where their tubes are better if you do that."
​     Thank you, Barbara and family, for supporting wild pollinators in White County! ​