Monitoring the Progress of the Bees - 10 June 2020

Now that we have significant bee activity at our Gilbert Site1a2h, we will be monitoring the progress as they fill the habitat tubes.

We have updated the Home page, to include an overall status for the two sites in Gilbert and Payson/Flowing Springs.

Today's (as of 10 June 2020) count is up to 189:

Site1a2h Count as of 10 june 2020

The progress continues to show a steady, linear trend. Note that the initial point, 4 June 2020, was under-counted since we did not include the 'back side'.

This shows about 16 tubes completed per day. The question is 'how many female bees are accomplishing this?'. Our estimate is that we released 843 female bees. Did most go elsewhere and this is the effort of a much smaller population? How long will this trend continue? The life of a female leaf cutter be is estimated to be:

"In captivity, female alfalfa leafcutting bees usually live 1 to 2 months, and males live 3 to 4 weeks. Lifespan is affected by weather, environmental conditions, and how well parasites are controlled. Lifespan is shorter in the wild due to uncontrolled environments; females generally live 3 to 5 weeks and males 1 to 3 weeks."

"Females lay between 18 and 40 eggs over a period of 2 weeks (average less than 25 eggs)."