how many bees in a tube?

[Renthorin]

I suppose it varies but I have a drilled 2x6 per Dave's instructions and the first tube is mudded over at the opening.

About how many larva are in there?

[Seattleite]

It definitely varies based on a whole lot of factors.
Anywhere between 3 and 7 would be my guess.
I've found you get far fewer eggs per tube when you use plastic straws, and more eggs when you use paper tubes or natural products like reeds.

[BeeAware]

Like you said it varies from bee to bee and from season to season. Forage availability and weather are large factors. With my own mason bees I've seen as few as 5 cocoons and as many as 13 cocoons per 6 inch straw.

[BorderBee]

I would agree hard to say for sure until you open it in the fall. I find sometimes the female MUDs the end shut without the tube being a full as it could be. But from my experience if it is full you get 1 bee for about every 1/2" of tube, with the last 1/2" always being empty. So in a 6" tube if full you should have 11 bees give or take a couple.

[Ravenseye]

Last year I had 4 or 5 in a tube. I had more than a couple of tubes that were only half full though. Didn't find out about them until I tore the unit apart to clean the cocoons.

[Renthorin]

Cool, thanks for the replies : - )

I now have 4 mudded over tubes and about 4 to 6 bees coming and going while I'm on the deck (garden).

[DavesBees]

My experience is an average of 3 females and 4 males per 6 inch tube. Now if you go slightly smaller say 5/16 inch you will get smaller bees and more per tube. Another way to vary tube size is with the number of wraps of paper you use. I think the tubes with the extra space not filled are when momma is about to expire and seals the tube before she goes feet in the air.