As busy
as a bee
There wouldn’t be sunflowers,
Wouldn’t be peas,
Wouldn’t be apples,
On apple trees,
If it weren’t for fuzzy old,
Buzzy old bees,
Dusting pollen
From their knees.
Aileen Fisher (1906-2002)
It has
been a pleasure to see so many bees recently in the garden, flying from flower
to flower, taking the nectar and filling their pollen baskets.
Honey bees usually sleep for up to eight hours at night-time in the hive, though they will sometimes sleep in flowers. Young bees may take frequent daytime naps.
Some bees require emergency treatment. A bee that is not flying or collecting nectar is a bee needing help. The quickest way to help it is to find a flower. Otherwise, prepare a sugar water solution of one part sugar to two parts water, and offer it to the bee. Sugar water should not be left out for bees as a general rule, because it will not give them the nutrition they need and may prevent them from visiting flowers and pollinating them. One would think that honey would be a good thing to offer tired bees, but that is a way of introducing potential disease to a colony.
However, if the bee does not respond and consume the sugar water, it is likely that she has reached the end of her life.
I have never seen a sleeping bee and the photographs I have included in this post show something I hope I will one day experience.
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I was surprised that you used "her" to refer to the worker bees but you are right - they are female. The main purpose of the male drones is to fertilise the queen bee and then they are cast aside. It is a hard life being male - even in bee world.
ReplyDelete. . . but what a way to go! 😎
DeleteBees are most incredible and cute! It used to horrify me as a child when the boy across the street would come out with his jar, to gather more bees for his boy scout collection, each little bee pinned to a board. Little trophies, i guess. anyway , he got a badge.
ReplyDeleteI have never understood the fascination in pinning insects to boards. These days, photographs would suffice, I hope.
DeleteSuch exceptionally beautiful pictures! Bees are fascinating and crucial to life as we know it on our earth.
ReplyDeleteThere are some very talented photographers around. They probably had to wait hours/days to get these shots.
DeleteThe sleeping bees in the last photo look like small mammals with wings, not like insects. Gorgeous.
ReplyDeleteThey are wonderful creatures.
DeleteThank you for the very interesting information. I have seen sleeping bees, not often but interesting to come across.
ReplyDeleteOoh, I envy you. One day, maybe, I will, too.
DeleteWe have seen more bee's this year, our garden has more early flowering blooms, which brings them in. Lovely post, we always pop a bee onto flowers when we see one on the ground.
ReplyDeleteThe sun seems to have encouraged them out, although it's colder today. I noticed lots on the pyracantha yesterday.
DeleteThe last photo is delightful. I cleaned out an old bee hotel at the start of the year and repositioned it to improve the flight path. Still waiting for customers!
ReplyDeleteWord hasn't reached the community yet.😎
DeleteThat's a delightful bit of bee poetry. I like bees and love to hear them buzzing round the garden
ReplyDelete😊
DeleteAnts are amazing. Bees are even more fascinating.
ReplyDeleteBees are essential.
DeleteThere are about 30 hives on the land beside us and at this time of year we are swamped in cold and dying bees. They seem to be attracted to our cedar cabin cladding at present and nephew has already been stung for accidentally brushing one as he moved some timber.
ReplyDeleteThe cedar is probably a source of warmth, do you think? Your poor nephew!
DeleteI miss having bees in our chimney. They were never any bother and it made life a little more interesting, especially when they swarmed.
ReplyDeleteA swarm that close would be too close for comfort for me. Most interesting, though,.
DeleteI can't recall having come across an exhausted bee, but I once (years ago) had a dying butterfly on my balcony, which I fed some sugar-water from a spoon. It did drink a little but it didn't recover - it was probably just at the end of its life cycle. It died, and I "buried" it under a tree... (Probably one of very few butterflies to get a proper funeral!)
ReplyDeleteA butterfly burial sounds most fitting.
DeleteWe just had a rerun of a PBS television show about a man with his garden of bees.. very interesting. I was lucky enough yesterday to see one of my ground borers loaded down with nectar crawl into her hole in the ground. I often have to pick these up and put them on flowers. I didn't think about the sugar water, but that's easy for me because I always have it here in the refrigerator for the hummingbirds.
ReplyDeleteBees are so interesting. Solitary bees nest in the most unusual places.
DeleteI did the sugar water thing just recently when I noticed a bee wandering aimlessly on the screen of my window, she appeared lethargic, so I used a small pet medicine syringe to drip a couple of sugary drops close to her and got to watch her drink and revive then fly away to the flowers. I felt happy all day after that.
ReplyDeleteThat's lovely. Little things mean a lot, as the song has it.
DeleteCan't say that I have ever seen a bee sleep either.
ReplyDelete😊
DeleteBees don't bother you unless you bother them, and we need bees more than we need more people!
ReplyDeleteToo true!
DeleteGood post and excellent final photo.
ReplyDeleteProfessional photographers wait a long time for shots like that.
DeleteI sometimes see bees come to my bird bath. Good that you're seeing more bees.
ReplyDeleteLast year was a poor year for bees. I hope this year will be better.
DeleteHere's to bees!
ReplyDeleteCheers!
ReplyDeleteI'm not fond of bees. But as long as they leave me alone, they can go on their merry way.
ReplyDeleteGenerally, if they're left in peace they will do you no harm.
DeleteIt has become the use here, not to mow the lawn completely but leave a square for wild flowers. Also on highways the separation in the middle is now full of wild flowers, I think people finally realized that bees are very important ! My uncle when he was retired, had bees, they even recognized him ! And the honey was soooo good !
ReplyDeleteLet's hope it's not too late!
DeleteThank you.
ReplyDelete😊
DeleteAn informative read and the photographs are wonderful.
ReplyDeleteAll the best Jan
Thank you.
DeleteGreat information...We have been swarmed with bees around here lately..Just this evening we were sitting on the back porch and several bees were flying around us. Beautiful pictures...
ReplyDelete😊
DeleteI have heard quite a few bees in the garden which is always nice.
ReplyDeleteThere seem to be more this year, which is pleasing.
DeleteI don't see too many bees here any more. Pretty sad. Have seen a lot of HORNETS though. Ugh. The bee photos are beautiful. Love the sleeping bees!
ReplyDeleteI'm told that hornets are peaceable creatures so long as they're not threatened . . . I just keep well away!
DeleteAs ours is the only garden in our terrace with any pollen rich plants in it, lots of different bees are flocking to our garden. At this time of year, they seem to be particularly partial to the tiny, nondescript flowers in our Cotoneaster, which looks virtually alive with all the bees gathering pollen all day long. I have revived bees with sugar water but have seen quite a few at the end of their lives as well. I'm not sure if I've ever seen a sleeping bee, though. xxx
ReplyDeleteThe bees in your neighbourhood must be extremely grateful for you and your garden. 😊🐝
ReplyDeleteSleeping baby bees is a delightful image.
ReplyDeleteIt's very sweet.
Delete