News — harvesting mason bees

Each fall, Crown Bees buys back extra Mason bee cocoons from gardeners and farmers to expand pollination across the USA. Learn how your bees help support orchards, community farms, and organic growers through our Bee Buy Back program.

Every fall, Mason bee raisers harvest cocoons to prepare for spring. Jim from Indiana turned this task into a neighborhood tradition, hosting harvest parties that bring people together over bees, donuts, and laughter. Providing bee care is as much about community as pollination.

First and foremost, a THANK YOU to all of our Bee Farmers and Bee Buy Back Participants this season!  You can take pride knowing that your region-specific mason bee cocoons will go to next season's bee raisers and help increase pollination and food production across the country! We also wanted to take this opportunity to alert you to a few emerging issues that we noticed during this harvesting season and give you a few tips to reduce the incidences of bee loss next year. What we want to see! A healthy mason bee cocoon (below) will appear dark grey or brown, ovular...