Don’t forget our bee friends drink water!
I’ve put a couple of small bowls in and around my flower beds, with small flat stones for them to sit on while they drink.
this post was submitted on 17 Feb 2024
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The true hydrohomie
Especially if you live in a more arid climate. I had bees from all over my neighborhood swarming my birdbaths in the morning. Had to start adding rocks so they wouldn't drown, but the birds didn't like them.... Eventually I ended up having to build a water feature in the back yard to keep everyone happy.
While I'd love to do this, we have a number of wasps and hornets native to this area that swarm the water and get territorial of it while it's present. If I see bees I might put out a saucer or shallow dish with some water, but leaving it out for extended periods is a sure fire way to get stung by some asshole wasp.
If you see a bee that's just crawling around or sitting and not responding to you getting close it might just be low on energy.
To help the bee, mix as much sugar as you can get to dissolve in a spoonful of water. Once it's well mixed put drops of it in front of the bee where it can reach with it's proboscis. I've found putting the mixture on a leaf and poking that under the bee's face helps too. It might take a bit of persistence, but once it works out what it is it'll drink it's fill. You haven't seen an excited bee 'til you've seen one fly off after that!
It's not particularly nutritious, more akin to an energy drink than a meal, but it'll give them enough of a boost to get to a real flower.
I "rehabilitated" a bee this way a while back (hydration, sugarwater, and a very mild heat source). Beedude was lethargic and spent the night in a container inside.
When I released beedude the next day I saw the coolest thing: it flew up, made several circles in the air, and then flew off with determination. I am not an entomologist but it seemed exactly like what I would expect from something "calibrating its compass"/finding its bearings. Super cool!
Yup, we had a similar thing, but didn't need long to get going again. It first refused the sugar water, then realised and drank a surprising amount all while laying down, then suddenly started waving it's legs around like it had just discovered them, took a couple of false starts and took off. In the air it did exactly what you describe, circling to get it's bearings then heading off. It definitely appeared slightly drunk though.
I like to think it got back to the nest, still slightly wired from a sugar, and desperately tried to tell it's hivemates about this great foraging spot with a waggle dance: "guys, guys you've got to try this new spot, it's got grrreat sugar!" "Where?" "Err, no idea, my head is still buzzing from the good stuff."
it seemed exactly like what I would expect from something "calibrating its compass"/finding its bearings.
Or it was dancing a thank you message to you before taking off.
Yeah I did that for a bee the other day. Took a bit of coaxing but my beeuddy finally drank some and then got stuck in
- with its* proboscis
- drink its* fill
Friendly reminder that yellow jackets are wasps, not bees, and if you help those little fuckers sully the good name of bees by calling them "bees" I will hire Barry B. Benson to sue you into the stone age.
I am glad to have lived a full life where no one has mistaken the two, not even kids
Scariest animal since I live somewhere with no hippos tbh
Don't get Yellow Paper Wasps confused with Yellowjackets or Hornets.
They are also not the same thing.
For the record, yes they would love the car, thank you very much
For those wondering what/why:
A migrating queen is almost certainly resting or chilling out in the side mirror, the rest of the swarm is just following her and chilling out until she starts to move again or lay eggs, at which point they follow or start building a new nest on the spot.
And she will get to wherever she is going faster if someone would just toss her the keys
This is cute. "Wanna borrow the car?" 😂 But this is about right! I was so worried about the bees. We had berries that didn't fruit one year because they weren't pollinated. We never saw bees, or little wasps or anything. All the neighbors sprayed poisons everywhere but us. It was horrid. We have moved, and we're so happy when we saw bees everywhere! We stop and admire
The overuse of pesticides is not only depressing but will probably lead to the extinction of pollinators too
I thought about it last summer.. I had spent the entire day working in my parents garden and neither saw nor heard a bee. 30 years ago I remember thinking of them as a bit of a nuisance whenever I was out there..
The comments in this thread make me happy that we have a yard full of bees despite living in suburbia. Our yard might be a bit of an island though - lots of clover in our lawn, a large cone flower bed, two decent sized rose of Sharon, two milkweed beds, the list goes on. Gotta help those pollinators out. The flowers look nice too. It doesean we have to weed some, but I couldn't imagine a hydrangea and boxwood only landscape.
Bees were always bros. But WASPS! They better run
Bad news: they want to eat your fruit, and they'll fight you for it
Good news: they also want eat your caterpillars, beetles, and aphids
Wasps might be jerks, but they'll patrol your garden for you, protecting your food from the other jerks.
Which makes it a bit sad to have to kill them. If only they'd evolve the sense of self preservation that comes from not being in people's face every second people are outside.
Same! As a kid, I saw cartoons that always showed swarms of bees attacking people so they always frightened me. Now, I even pet the furry ones. 😁
To my everlasting shame, I was so scared I killed a number of bubble bees when I was younger. This stuff needs to be taught earlier.
Nothing attracts bees like holy basil. 9a-9b here and I've got bees swarming my gray watered holy basil pretty much any time the sun is shining.
The best flower for bees are native flowers. Non natives ultimately harm crucial native bees.
I'll tell the bees.
Don't let him get too close to your wife, could end up stealing yo girl quicker than Barry B Benson
Wasps however can go fuck themselves, little stripy bastards.
I used to be afraid of bees as a kid too, back when I thought bees and wasps were all "bees". Now that I know the difference, bees are cool with me.
So real, when I go swimming now I go outta my way to look for bees who didn't quite make it over the water and save their chunky little buts.
I'm allergic and have bad luck with getting stung so I used to kill them but now I pull them out of the hot tub and let them dry out and fly away. Bees are good people.
I think I remember originally reading this quote from a 80s-90s British singer, it might have been Tracy Thorn from Everything But The Girl, or Elisabeth Fraser from The Cocteau Twins.