Schrodt Designs Model MB-L Mason Bee Lodge

This is the second mason bee house we've put up. The first was a gift of the "teardrop" shaped house 3 Springs ago. After reading about the bee's "needs" for nesting, I didn't expect the first house to be a success, but it has almost every hole (even the large ones) used for laying the eggs and being filled with mud. This Schrodt design is very attractive and all of the holes appear to be just about the correct size. I felt that more holes were necessary due to the influx of bees due to the success of the first house so I purchased it and we hung it about 6 weeks ago. So far, no resident bees.....It could be that they just need to get used to the Schrodt model. It did take the bees until the second season to really take up residence in the teardrop shaped box. It is important to hang any box away from your living quarters! These bees are not aggressive, but they have come to our back porch looking for holes to nest in (we have board & batten hemlock siding) but while a bit annoying, they have not become aggressive at all. Also, be sure to follow directions for hanging it out of wind and rain, allowing for the morning sun to warm it a bit but not full sun so they bake. We've hung both of ours about 5' off the ground, under the overhang of our barn roof on the eastern corner. I have read that it is recommended that the box NOT be moved once situated....so try to be sure it's located where you know it will stay. We've had no problems with any predators at all and we are on the side of a fairly remote mountain. They've done a good job pollinating and except for bumble bees....we've lost the honeybees that once were prevalent. :-(

The construction is good, but the tubes are only a bit over 4" deep, not deep enough for getting optimal female/male ratio. The holes are ostensibly 5/16" diameter, but the drilling was shoddy. I had to go over every hole with a 5/16" bit, both from the front and the back, and removed a considerable amount of wood. Two holes had to be scrapped for usage, as the staples from the side panels were shot right through the bee tubes - not cool. Also, the picture shows 55 usable holes - the shipped unit has only 8 vertical rows, not 11, and the 4 corner holes are closed off for faceplate screws = 36 holes. Take away the two holes they screwed up and I have a total of 34 bee tubes. Over a dollar a tube makes this a lot more expensive than I originally thought. See the pictures that I uploaded for my finished house... that I finished.

After purchasing the Mson Bee for the Backyard Gardener book I purchased this as a companion. Really well made, packed nicely, just as advertised, and was easy to put up. A small booklet came with it explaining everything nicely. A bit pricey, but really worth the money (if you have a handy husband he might be able to make something like this). It was made in the USA which is always a plus. Reading the booklet that was enclosed, and the Mason Bee for the Backyard Gardener book on Amazon, this little lodge seems to have it all. I hung it the same day and now only have to wait and keep my fingers crossed.

The holes are too shallow...need to be 6 inches deep. You really need to be able to see inside the tubes to clean them properly. There is no way with this model to look and see if there are any of the pinprick sized dots that indicate bee killing mites, although I guess you could squirt bleach water repeatedly through the holes after taking the back off, as a just-in-case. They didn't even bother to clean out the sawdust after drilling the holes...I guess the female is supposed to wear herself out doing that, instead of laying her eggs. There are better choices than this one.

Roof does not extend far enough to keep rain out. Had to make extension.

While I agree that the mason bees loved this house, so did the woodpeckers. They had a nice feast on the bees over the winter and now we have a picked apart mason bee house. And no mason bees...

Holes are too small. Have two teardrop shaped Mason bee houses with bamboo tubes in it and they LOVE them. It's too late for me to send these back. I'm very skeptical about these because the bees go in and lay eggs and turn around to come out. They always come out head first. Maybe they'll back out if all the other houses holes are plugged up? Don't know! I'll find out in the spring. When I add more, I will be buying the teardrop shaped ones again. This was an expensive lesson. I bought two. May have wasted my money, but we'll see!

havent seen any carpenter bees yet. we will see. The construction of this is nice with hook in back for you to hang.