After getting ready for our trip to JWM Leafcutters in Nampa, Idaho and the initial examination of our two habitats, we were ready to harvest one of the habitats to see what was inside.
JWM Leafcutters uses a machine to harvest all of the tapered tunnel habitats that they collect. As Scott Earnest, Director of Operations for JWM Leafcutters in the USA, tells the story, this machine was designed by Canadian nuclear scientists in their spare time. This machine "punches" out each tube, from front to back; running continuously. Since the males are laid in the front, if any are damaged it is a minimal loss. Before running the habitat through the 'punching' machine, they are put through a roller machine to loosen the materials. Along with the tapered tunnel design (wider at the 'back' end), this further minimizes loss of the valuable female cocoons. This video shows the operation of the two machines.
The tapered tunnel "Megablock" bee nesting blocks are specifically designed for leaf cutter bees:
And protected by patent 5591063:
Next, we examine the cocoons from our habitat using the JWM Leafcutter sampling process.
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