A helping hand for the pollinators One interesting, busy little solitary bee – the mason bee – is ready to add new life to your garden.


Female Red Mason Bee. Photo by Gail Hampshire.


and seeds all require pollination. This totals 75 per cent of all the food we eat. Clearly, the continued decline of our natural pollinators will have a se- rious impact on our food supply. It is estimated honey bees are down in numbers anywhere from 50 per cent to 90 per cent, depending on their region. There are, how- ever, ways you can help bring


O pollinators


Sherrie Versluis Feathered Friends


into


your very own backyard and help the over-all pop- ulation.


Pollinators are animals that enable plants to pro-


duce fruit or seeds, etc. by moving pollen from one flower to another of the same plant. The pollen then fertilizes the plant, which allows it to reproduce. The champions of this important task are bees, birds and some butterflies. They are the most efficient at pollination because


they get their food from the flowers. Insects like flies, spiders and wasps also contribute to pollination, but on a much smaller scale. There is no question that bees are the most prolific of all pollinators. Most people think of honey or bum-


ne of the topics of greatest concern in the en- vironment today is the decline of pollinators. Foods such as fruits, vegetables, herbs, nuts


A bee house (above) will help encourage the industrious mason bees to take up residence in your yard. Some neat facts about mason bees


• They do not sting! Females do have a stinger but will only use it when it feels its life is in danger, as when it is being physically handled. When I work in my garden they work along with me with no conflict at all.


• Mason bees are so dedicated to their nest building they work even in cool weather when other bees stay home.


• It takes about 250 female mason bees to pollinate one acre of commercial apple trees.


ble bees, but there is another little bee that works just as hard: the mason bee. This is a solitary bee compared to honey bees, which are colonizers.


There are many different names for mason bees, like blue orchard bees, house mason bees and Osmia bees. These are all actually the same bee and their scientific name is Osmia lignaria. There are over 130 species of mason bees throughout North America. They are smaller than a honey bee and are metallic blue or green in colour; some are even black. They do not produce honey but collect pollen and nectar to feed themselves and their future generations.


The life cycle of mason bees starts in spring when males emerge from their cocoon. They linger around the nest until the females appear; they mate and the males die. The females spend the rest of the summer preparing their nests for the next year’s cycle. The nests are made in tubular holes that are found in wood where insects may have previously bored holes. The bees have even used hollow twigs in dead trees.


Mason bees do not excavate these structures, so they must seek out the right spot to lay their eggs. In each tubular hole, or cell, the female will bring a mass of pollen and nectar, lay an egg on that mass, bring in mud as a partition for the next mass – and then begin the process over and over throughout the cell. Female eggs are laid in the back of the cell and males at the front. Once the cell is complete, she will cap the hole with mud and seek out another spot to start all over again. The eggs will hatch during the summer, turning into larva – which will eat all the nectar and pollen left behind, spin into a cocoon and later enter the pupal stage.


The larva matures during fall or winter then hiber- nates inside the insulating cocoon until spring, when the whole cycle starts again. You can easily attract mason bees to your yard and garden by putting up a mason house. Since I started carrying them at the Preferred Perch three summers ago, we’ve had 100 per cent positive feedback from everyone who put one up. They all got mason bees, and several customers felt their vegetable crops became far more plentiful than in summers when they did not encourage mason bees. Consider adding mason bees to your yard to pol-


linate your trees, flowers and vegetables. They are in- teresting little creatures and will add new life to your sanctuary.


Putting up a bee house is another way to care for nature. Whenever you give to it, you will receive much more in return. So do bee happy! Sherrie Versluis owns The Preferred Perch on St. Mary’s Road in St. Vital, phone 204-257-3724.


Pets don't need all those shots V


accinating dogs and cats has be- come so routine that most people rarely question their necessity. Vet clinics send out reminder cards and most owners don’t dispute the vaccines’ validity or safety. However, the over- vaccination of our pets is a hotly debated topic within the veterinary community. Children receive several vaccinations


(and even here the safety of some of these shots is disputed) but the process is stopped by puberty. As adults we don’t get annual booster shots yet we continue to give these shots to our pets well into their senior years. Furthermore, there is no adjustment in the dose of these vac- cines. A six-pound toy poodle gets the same injection as a 100-pound husky and a 10-pound house cat gets the same dose as a 300-pound tiger.


Trigger disease – and vet visits All these vaccines can eventually over- whelm a pet’s immune system. Accord- ing to a British pet charity called Canine Health Concern, autism, epilepsy and cancer are a few of the many ailments


14 www.lifestyles55.net


that can be triggered by over-vaccina- tion. This charity contends that it is the profit-hungry drug companies and veter- inarians that are frightening pet owners into inoculating their pets, to the point where these vaccines are not only unwar- ranted but potentially harmful. A conservative estimate suggests that approximately half of dog visits and nearly three-quarters of cat visits to a vet are for vaccinations. The mark up on vaccines is huge. Thus, vaccinations and the office charge that is usually added comprise a large percentage of a clinic’s income. The profits for drug companies is even greater. Sales of veterinary vaccines ex- ceed $4 billion annually and six compa- nies account for over 70 per cent of this total. Perhaps it is not surprising that the recommendations for annual vaccina- tions was suggested over 20 years ago by the drug companies and supported by the United States Department of Agriculture. What is surprising is that this protocol was based on no scientific


All those vaccines can overwhelm a pet's system. Adults don't get annual booster shots. Why should our pets?


evidence. The drug companies maintain that they were merely giving a recom- mendation, not a directive. Neverthe- less, re-vaccination became a common practice that has provided huge profits for drug companies and the vets who ad- ministered the vaccines.


Once a puppy or kitten is fully immu- nized against viruses, he is immune for years, often for a lifetime. Not all pets should receive all vaccines. There are core vaccinations for dogs and cats that protect against very serious diseases that have high mortality rates. Rabies is one of these diseases and in Winnipeg all dogs are required to have a rabies vac- cination.


Non-core vaccinations should be given if the pet is likely to be exposed to situa- tions where the disease may exist. Thus, dogs that wander outside and come into contact with other animals will require more protection than strictly indoor cats that need very few vaccines.


Discuss with your vet the risks versus benefits of the diseases you are vaccinat-


ing for rather than assuming additional vaccines are necessary.


Ask for a blood test One way to avoid over-vaccinating


your pet is to ask for a vaccine titer test. This blood test can measure the antibody levels that determine if your pet has ad- equate immunological protection from previously administered vaccines. The results will eliminate unnecessary re-vac- cinations. You can’t add immunity to an already immune pet.


As more research is done there appears to be mounting evidence that many au- toimmune diseases are the result of over- vaccination. Although some vets have changed their re-vaccination schedule to every three or even five years, you should question the necessity, efficacy and safety of the vaccines administered to your pet. You may not just be spending money needlessly but may be compromising your pet’s health.


Bob Urano was longtime owner of a Winnipeg pet food store and remains a pet lover.


August 2016


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