Bees, bees and more bees buzzin' about

People driving through the countryside outside of Odessa may have wondered what the purpose was of those many small wooden trailers parked in several of the fields off Batum Road and elsewhere. On a recent trip to Moses Lake, Odessa resident Jim Boss saw them in irrigated circles belonging to Keith and Leanna Schafer's company Seed-Rite, Inc. He contacted the Schafers and started asking questions. The huts are homes for alfalfa leafcutter bees and are called variously bee huts, houses, hotels, nests, condos and other such descriptive terms.

The summer leafcutter bees hatch within these structu...