Collecting pollen from solitary bees

I dont know if this will work, I could not find any others trying to collect pollen from Mason and Leafcutter bees. Though there are designs for the common Honey bee, to rake the pollen off their leg pollen sacs and drop the pollen into a box got collection.

Looking at many designs for honey bees I decided to use some wire mesh to dislodge pollen from the bees. I used 1/2 inch screen on one side and 1/4 inch screen on the other side as I'm not sure what size will work better until they try to pass through it.

I fitted the mesh across the box and to fit up flush when I close the top. By placing bee boards in the middle of the box between the wire mesh screens the bees will need to pass through this mesh. And my hope is over many hours a fine layer of pollen will be at the bottom of the box. We shall see when they return how realistic this is.

The drawer pulls out and has a very fine screen that should stop the pollen from falling through it. From what I've seen the pollen must be collected daily.

This box is a test, an idea and if it works I plan on ramping up scale and maybe I can get enough pollen to eat and to sell to others. But first I will have to see if the bees accept this design, and if it successfully rakes pollen off their bodies.

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