How to Harvest, Wash, and Store Mason Bee Cocoons

By fall, your mason bees have completed their development and are protected inside their cocoons. It’s time to harvest, remove predators, wash and inspect your cocoons, clean your nesting materials and prepare your bees for winter. Your mason bee house may look healthy from the outside, but what’s happening inside the nesting chambers can tell a very different story.

Pollen mites, Houdini flies, chalkbrood, parasitic wasps and other threats can be hidden inside alongside healthy mason bee cocoons. That’s why opening your nesting materials and harvesting your cocoons each fall is an important part of proper mason bee care.

Watch: Step-by-Step Video on How to Harvest, Wash & Store Your Bee Cocoons Over Winter

In this step-by-step video, we show you exactly how to harvest, wash, inspect and store your mason bee cocoons over winter.

What You’ll Need

Before you start, gather your supplies. The Dollar Store has everything you need for less than $10.

• Large plastic bin or tray
• Small tool for harvesting cocoons
• Bucket or container for washing
• Slotted spoon
• Fine mesh strainer
• Paper towels
• Flashlight for candling cocoons
• Container for winter storage

TIP: Work outside, not inside to keep them in hibernation mode.

How to Successfully Store Your Cocoons In Your Refrigerator Over Winter 

Learn winter storage tips from UC Davis entomologist Abigail Lehner. Watch video,

Don’t Want to Harvest & Clean Your Own Bees?

That’s exactly why we created the Rent Mason Bees program.

WE CLEAN: Release your bees, host them during the spring and return your nesting block to us. We harvest and clean the cocoons and prepare the healthy bees for winter.

YOU CLEAN: Own your nesting materials and harvest, clean and store your own mason bees each fall.

Every fall, Rent Mason Bees opens thousands of nests and harvests and cleans more than 3 million mason bee cocoons.

Whether we clean or you clean, proper annual care helps mason bees thrive.

Watch How We Clean 3 Million Mason Bee Cocoons 

We’re the largest and only company in the United States that clean 3 million mason bee cocoons so that you release healthy bees in Spring.