Rescuing tired bumblebees in distress
by Michael Watson (comments: 0
Even though it's still quite cold and uncomfortable outside, some wild bees are already on the move. Leading the way: bumblebee queens. They are the only wild bees that survive the winter and must quickly find food and a suitable nesting place in early spring. After all, they have the noble task of founding an entire bumblebee colony in the first weeks of spring.
Unfortunately, that's not always so easy: low temperatures and a scarce food supply can push some bumblebee queens to the brink of complete exhaustion. Completely drained, these bumbles then fall to the ground, where they often sadly die. Fortunately, there's a simple trick to quickly revive such exhausted bumblebee queens!
Bumblebee on the ground: How to rescue tired bumblebees
All you need to help tired bumblebees get back on their feet is:
- Sugar
- Water at room temperature
- A "feeding bowl" (e.g. a spoon)
If you see a weak bumblebee lying around, you can safely pick it up with your hands. It won't sting you! If you find that too creepy, you can also use a piece of paper. But please be careful when picking up the bumblebee!
Mix water and sugar in equal parts and place the sugar water in a suitable container. Small spoons or upside-down LEGO blocks work well for this. Put a few drops in and offer the "feeding bowl" to the bumblebee. It usually doesn't take longer than a few minutes for the hungry bumblebee to drink all the sugar water and fly off again. When that happens, you can be very proud of yourself: You just saved a bumblebee queen and, therefore, an entire bumblebee colony :-)
Saving bumblebees for “nerds”: the sugar mixture does the trick
For those who want to be exact, we recommend using a 1:1 mix of fructose and refined sugar. For example, you could mix 1 gram of refined sugar, 1 gram of fructose with 2 ml of water. But if you don't have fructose on hand, you can also use regular sugar – any bumblebee in need will still thank you!