Rent Mason Bees

Sustainable Solitary Bee Pollinators

Newsletter Signup

  • This field is for validation purposes and should be left unchanged.

Rent Mason Bees is the only company in the country that brings gardeners and farmers together with our bee rental program. Solitary bees are the easiest bees to host because they are low maintenance and do not sting. During our mason bee harvest we clean millions of mason bee cocoons and sterilize their nesting blocks to eliminate predators. We then return healthy, strong bees to farmers and our backyard gardeners.

OUR MISSION is to help the future of food production and promote the health of solitary bees that are critical pollinators to food and ecosystems. We are achieving this through community education, utilizing families and gardeners across the United States to host bees and we work with farmers to teach them how to maintain their crops safely for our pollinators.

Meet Our Team

Thyra McKelvie runs the pollination program for Rent Mason Bees to help gardeners host solitary bees. Thyra loves to help people learn about how to care for these amazing pollinators, and she does this by writing feature articles for National Publications, producing educational videos that can be seen on YouTube, doing radio interviews and podcasts, and speaking at local schools and events.
Nina Tran has volunteered with Rent Mason Bees over the years and prior to joining our team, worked with gardeners at Kent East Hill Nursery to help them create and plant sustainable gardens that would promote healthy ecosystems and create gorgeous yards. With a B.S. in Environmental Science she has learned the importance of raising awareness of conservation and sustainability as the world continues to change environmentally. Nina looks forward to working with our bee hosts, farmers and our solitary bees to make an impact and a difference in our world.
Jim Watts is the owner of Rent Mason Bees and Watts Solitary Bees. He is a founding member of the Orchard Bee Association, a non-profit which is focused on research and growth of the orchard bee pollination industry and protection of orchard bees. Jim grew up around bees working with his dad in the family bee business. His passion led him to start his own business operating now for over 25 years. His expertise includes commercial pollination with solitary bees, propagating native bees and helping local gardeners with their pollination needs.
Craig Watts is located in Portland, Oregon. He has been working with solitary bees for the past twelve years. His focus has been on the propagation of leafcutter and mason bees, and the development of products for the bee industry.
Hope Watts grew-up in the bee business helping her grandpa and her father with leafcutter bees in Watts Bees Company. She learned the importance of how to care for bees and their environment. Hope has been an educator and teacher for nearly a decade and wanted to blend her education and bee background to teach youth the importance of pollination and bees. Hope created our educational materials and downloadable packets for parents and teachers so that kids could become backyard scientists.

Learn How to Rent and Host Mason Bees

Click Here

Bee Amazed

Mason bees
visit up to
2,000
flowers a day
400 Mason bees
do the work of
40,000
honey bees
One Mason bee
block can hold
500
eggs
Farmers
release
1,000
bees per acre
to pollinate their
crops