Honey Bee-Mason Bee

In the world of insects, honey bees and mason bees are both known as valuable pollinators. However, even these closely related members of the insect family have similarities and differences. As beekeepers, we learn to appreciate each one for their valuable contribution to our gardens and orchards. Honey bee vs Mason bee – which is the best? Any opinions?

In any group of insects, you will find lifestyle variations. Even the breeds or types of honey bees have some diversity within daily colony life. So, it is not surprising to learn that the lives of similar but not exactly the same bee families intertwine.

Comparing the Differences – Honey Bee vs Mason Bee

If you think “bee” – an image of a honey bee is one of the first things that comes to mind for many of us. Known scientifically as Apis mellifiera, honey bees are the cornerstone of the beekeeping world.

Another insect that is sometimes mistaken for a honey bee is the mason bee. They too are well-known pollinators. There are many types of mason bees that belong to various species within the Osmia genus.

Both honey bees and mason bees are beneficial to our ecosystem due to the pollination services they provide.

Lifespan and Social Structure

Both honey bees and mason bees go through the 4 insect life stages – egg, larva, pupa, adult. However the longevity and social structure within each bee family is quite different.

Honey Bee

Honey bees do not live very long. Workers live for several weeks during Summer – while drones (males) live a few months. The queen honey bee does have a slightly longer life span- a couple of years.

One thing that truly sets honey bees apart from other insects is their highly organized social life. They live in large colonies with tens of thousands of individuals.

Within this large family there is a hierarchy and clearly defined division of labor. The queen honey bee is the only egg-laying female capable of mating. Her ability to lay fertilized bee eggs assures continuation of the colony.

The majority of individuals in the hive are sterile females. These worker bees do all the various tasks needed to support the hive.

Brood rearing is shared by members within a honey bee colony. Nurse bees are responsible for feeding and tending to developing young or bee brood.

During the warm months, some males (drone bees) are found in the hive. Their sole purpose is mating with new queens – they do no work.

Mason Bee

Mason bees have an even shorter lifespan than honey bees. Adults only live a few weeks. There are many difference species of mason bees so expect to find some differences.

Unlike our highly social honey bees, solitary mason bees may seem to be a bit of a party pooper. But seriously, these solitary bees do not rely on any complex social structure or family to survive.

Each female mason bee is responsible for searching for food and laying her eggs. There is no work force to share in caring for young. In fact, the mother mason bee usually never meets her young.

Nesting Habits

Both honey bees and mason bees create a nest or place to rear young for the next generation. However, the social honey bee have nests that are used continuously for years. For the mason bee, the nesting structure is found – not made and only used temporarily.

Honey Bee Nests

Honey bees build homes inside cavities such as a beehive provided by a beekeeper – or maybe the hollow truck of a tree.

Worker bees produce beeswax from special glands on their abdomens. This soft wax is shaped into thousands of hexagonal wax cells that eventually become the sheets of honeycomb inside the hive.

Here they store food, rear young and cluster together to keep warm. Unlike some insects, honey bees do not hibernate during Winter. They cluster inside the hive on cold days surviving on stored honey.

While not every individual lives to see Spring, some members of the colony do live to carry on the colony in the new year. The nest is used year after year unless the colonies dies or the bees abscond or leave for some reason.

Nests of Mason Bees

Mason bees get their name from their interesting nesting behavior. They use existing cavities – such as hollow plant stems, holes in wood (even human-made nesting boxes) as their home.

To protect their developing young, female mason bees build individual cells within these cavities using mud or other materials to seal each cell. This sealing process is what give them their title “mason”.

Female mason bees lay a egg inside a pollen ball in each brood cell. When the egg hatches, the larva receives nutrition from the pollen ball.

Then, it spins a cocoon in which to hibernate until Spring. Mason bees do not have a queen; each female is responsible for her own reproduction.

Foraging Behavior

In order to have food to store or provide for growing young, bees must go out into the world and gather pollen and nectar. This is called foraging. Resources are brought back to the nests where they will be used.

Honey Bee

The foraging behavior of honey bees is that of a generalist. They readily visit a wide variety of flowering plants.

It is not unusual for honey bees to travel several miles for food. Workers are able to communicate the location of food sources to other foragers using special bee dances.

Nectar is collected and converted into honey for storage. Pollen is used to feed developing young and some is stored for later as bee bread.

Honey Production

Mason Bee

Some species of mason bees practice more specialize foraging than the honey bee. They focus more on certain early-blooming spring flowers and fruit trees.

This sometimes make them superior pollinators for certain crops. However, the distance mason bees fly for nectar or pollen is shorter than that of honey bees.

Mason bees rely on nectar for their dietary needs. Pollen is used as food for their offspring in the tubes with eggs.

They do not store food for long term use because they do not overwinter as a family. Instead, they hibernate inside cocoons in the nest. Mason bees do not produce honey or make beeswax.

Pollination Efficiency

Honey bees are good pollinators for a wide variety of plants and crops. They are able to carry large quantities of pollen on their specialized pollen baskets.

Living in large families, they are able to be moved by migratory beekeepers to crop fields. This make them useful for large fields that all bloom at the same time.

In some ways, mason bees are better pollinators than honey bees – especially for certain crops like apple and cherry trees.

Their unusual way of carrying pollen makes them very efficient at moving pollen from flower to flower. They also practice buzz pollination to vibrate pollen loose from the flowers.

It is not uncommon for gardeners or orchardists to set up mason bee houses in an attempt to boost crop yields.

Maintenance and Management

There is a reason we use the word – “beekeeper”. Keeping colonies of honey bees requires regular hive management including, hive inspections, disease prevention and more. Beekeepers work hard to maintain healthy productive colonies.

Mason bees are relatively low maintenance. Once nesting sites are in place, little human intervention is required.

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