This is a fantastic thread and thank you to all of the contributors! I find mason bees fascinating. I would like to expand my mason bee housing, I only started last year. I have a couple of questions for DIY houses. I think I would like to go the paper tube route. It seems parchment paper seems to work perhaps better than brown paper bag? I have bags but easily can buy a roll of parchment if it fairs better with moisture (pacific north west). Drilling hole size if I used a solid wood block: If I use parchment, do I drill 5/16" still. With paper bag, do I drill 3/8" as the paper takes up space or still go 5/16". I am going to buy a long drill bit (about 16") and use my drill press to get deep holes. Don't really want to buy 2 bits :) . My other option is to rip 5/16" square grooves in 1" think boards and then line with tubes. The tubes will prevent the spread of mites etc between wood layers correct? This is far faster for me (rip the grooves vs. drilling a solid block) and I already have the dado blade and table saw, as well as the wood. Comments and suggestions greatly appreciated!

Your statements are so ethologically incorrect that it's laughable. Everyone, apparently, is an expert. The different between what I go by and what Handymac goes by is everything I write can be sourced and backed up by up-to-date research and is covered in ethological journals and other publications, while Handymac has either watched a television show or two, or has been reading some very outdated information. Think the 80's or by similarly uniformed self proclaimed experts. I don't see what foxes, or wolves, have to do with this woman's dog. I don't see anyone telling this woman to treat her dog like a human, nor did I see this woman indicate that that was what she was doing. So where's the relevance of this statement?? Domestic dogs do NOT form packs. They do have social structure but not packs. Ethologists have studied feral populations of domestic dogs around the world and have found that they form loose, shifting groups of small numbers, usually 2-3 individuals and they only come together in large numbers over communal resources, such as garbage heaps and sources of water, then they disperse again. They were not found to hunt, rear young and protect a communal territory as a stable group. Boitani, Francisci, Ciucci, and Andreoli, (1995) Which is the ethological definition of a pack. Domestic dogs do not participate in organized hunting, where each takes up a different job. At best, they hunt individually or in chaotic en-mass but not in different roles comprising an organized hunt like wolves, lions, painted dogs, and other social undomesticated predators do. It is VERY rare for males and previous offspring to participate in rearing young. And females are found to mate with several males during a single heat cycle. As stated before, loose, shifting groups of few members don't compose a stable group, nor do they protect territories when they congregate in large numbers to utilize a resource and then disperse again. Forcing dogs to live together in our homes or backyards does not constitute a stable group or pack. Nor are dogs such dumb beasts that they perceive us to be dogs. No. Even if they did form packs, they don't think that we're fellow dogs, or vise versa. They are well aware that were are different animals. How in the world is training a lab to point or a whippet to fetch dangerous??? Gads! My poodle is my service dog when that job has traditionally been filled by labs. She must be some kind of dangerous monster! There are no wild pack conditions for DOMESTIC dogs. There are FERAL conditions and as stated, they do not form packs. The human is obviously the boss at feeding time since the human buys the food and has the opposable thumbs to dish it out. Do you have some kind of ego issues? You seem very concerned that we're all very aware how much in charge you are and that you're the boss! Good for you? Being that dogs were domesticated and almost every breed was developed to serve mankind, is that supposed to be some kind of rare feat or come as a surprise that dogs look to us for direction? The dominant dog? The submissive dog? Dominant and submissive in regards to what resource?? Dominant and submissive are NOT personalities traits! How are you allowing your dog to become "too dominant" and how are you dominant over your dog?? You clearly don't understand the concept of social dominance. An animal can only be dominant in regards to a valued resource. Food, mates, safe and comfortable resting places, etc. And even this changes from resource to resource, day to day, and from method to method. Fluffy dominates Spot by shoving Spot out of the way when it comes to treat time. While later in the day, Spot snarls at Fluffy and wins the preferred resting spot. Tomorrow they switch as each resource changes in importance. Next week, the new puppy wins the rawhide by licking at Fluffy's mouth to get her to give it up. Regarding packs: http://www.associationofanimalbehaviorprofessionals.com/glossary.html http://www.4pawsu.com/dogpsychology.htm http://www.kathysdao.com/articles/Forget_About_Being_Alpha_in_Your_Pack.html http://4pawsu.com/pmdominance.htm http://www.jeandonaldson.com/jeans-blog-mainmenu-51/64-are-dogs-pack-animals The links go on and on, you can find many more by Googling. Find out what social dominance is and what it isn't: http://www.psychologytoday.com/blog/animal-emotions/201202/social-dominance-is-not-myth-wolves-dogs-and http://drsophiayin.com/philosophy/dominance/?/dominance.php Again, there are just too many articles and other material addressing these two topics for me to list everyone here. They are all easily found on your own. No REAL behaviorist will insist that dogs form packs and that dominance or submission are personality traits. REAL behaviorists are those with the behavioral science degree to BACK UP the title Behaviorist. There are Veterinary Behaviorists, Clinical Applied Animal Behaviorists, Associate Clinical Applied Animal Behaviorists, and that's it. A person CAN up and hang a shingle calling them self a behaviorist but unless they have that degree, they're not a behaviorist.

Glenda- Your caps lock is on :-) (Joking with you; I know you're yelling). Thanks for posting the video, and I'm glad that Mason has been treated and his legs are going to be Ok. I thought the video was going to tell me something more about the owners and hoped to hear that they only asked the shelter to take care of him during treatment, but there was nothing about that. Am I judgemental as accused above? Perhaps. But I know that my life wouldn't heal nor would I be able to get on with it if I'd given my loyal pet to a shelter. Hopefully there's "the rest of the story" that we haven't been made aware of.

http://www.floridasnativebees.com/leaf-cutter-bees.html, http://crownbees.com/learn-mason-bees. http://www.growingagreenerworld.com/solitary-bees-pollinators/. https://edis.ifas.ufl.edu/in619. 4. Green Up Foliage Plants that aren’t getting enough magnesium can be identified by their yellowing leaves. This is because magnesium is an essential component in the production of chlorophyll. Try sprinkling Epsom salt around your plants to achieve healthier foliage. About 1 tablespoon per 12 inches of height once a month will benefit the plants in your vegetable garden, as well as any trees, shrubs, flowers and grasses you want to green up. I diluted 1tblsp/gal. Epsom for Tx of yellow leaves, sorry my blog wasn't clear on that point. I picked the leaves with "squiggly" so I would not, in time, have an infestation possibly. I then promptly burned those leaves. the above sites are just some I read so far and saved to bookmark. Most sites list the different species and among other info there is usually info about their nesting preferences. Reeds, hollow stems, beetle bore holes, ground, under rocks, etc. are listed and some of the info led me to believe that Leaf Cutters Megachili and Osmia have similar nesting habits, the "houses" would be acceptable to both, Osmia for spring and Megachili for summer & fall.