Mason Bee larva forming silk cocoons

At first when I split open one of the bee boards I was worried they would not survive long. But to my surprise they continued to eat the pollen ball in their cell and then started spinning their cocoons. Honey Bees also go through a larval phase, though you cannot see them like you can with these Solitary Bees. It was pretty cool seeing them spin these, as in the past I would only open the bee boards when spinning the cocoons were complete. I would normally open their homes around December.

Upon my observation of these larva, I was surprised they entered their pupa stage so early. I thought they maybe started spinning the cocoons around Autumn but now I know it happens just a month or so after the adult female mason bees die off for the season.

The yellow coloring to the larva is due to them rolling all around in their pollen. And those black specks is their poo.

Seeing the cells is pretty amazing, the complexity of the homes using mud really surprised me.

To the left of the above image, a different color silk was used. I am unsure of why that happened. Many questions still remain about these bees.

There were some consequences to opening the bee boards, some larva wiggled their way out of their cells and never found their way back in.. starving they perished. I tried giving them some pollen balls but seems they were quite shocked leaving their mud homes.

Over the course of the next few weeks, those larva will completely enclose themselves in cocoons. Though they are not safe, as Mono Wasps will prey upon them and attempt to penetrate the cocoons. This is why I harvest the cocoons, so I can remove the affected ones and now allow the Wasp population to grow.

Its pretty wild seeing these worm like larva, and knowing once they emerge from the cocoons they will be full sized bees. I look forward to harvesting the cocoons this winter. And next spring seeing them emerge all over again.