Have come across a few posts on various forums where people have not had success with these......
I have used commercially bought tube boxes since 2001. That year, i had 25 tubes . This year, c 330.
I am a professional jobbing gardener specialising in wildlife-friendly gardener based in KT22 area of Surrey.
This year, I put the new hexagonal boxes that are supplied by CJ Wildfoods in 6 of my customer's gardens. All, as per my garden face south to south east , between 4 - 6 feet high on a wall or shed without overhanging vegetation.
Now the nesting season for Red Mason Bee is over, the tubes filled were 6; 29; 8, 9, 8 ,1 respectively
I put up my first box this year and a number of tubes have been filled for a couple of months now - I also saw a bee busy blocking up one of the holes over the weekend (whether a different species or not I have no idea!
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2012...my nesting count was down this year due to the bad weather, but still over 180 tubes filled. My customer's nest counts:
2011 2012
6 2
29 relocated to a friends garden after owner moved.
8 25
9 21
8 11
1 6