Bees so slugish

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albertajune
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Bees so slugish

Post by albertajune »

I have found two huge bees just crawling about on my patio today. I picked them up and put them back on the plants only for them to crawl back again. Curious to know why!!
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Gwenoakes
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Re: Bees so slugish

Post by Gwenoakes »

Clare read somewhere, not sure where that when bees get sluggish it is because they need food and it recommends them to have sugared water. It has worked for the ones Clare has given it to, they recover very quickly and then buzz off.
I think she has a video of at least one of them eating/drinking it.
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Mo
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Re: Bees so slugish

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Yes, I also read that, while a spoonful of sugar water is good to revive a bee it is a BAD idea to put out bowls of sugar water as you will be overwhelmed with bees (they go back to the hive and tell the others where to find it, using a' waggle dance') and the bee-keeper will have sugar instead of honey. Shallow bowls of water.


That post + all the 'where is...' posts reminds me, we used to have a beekeeper on here who did an interesting diary.
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albertajune
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Re: Bees so slugish

Post by albertajune »

Thank you for the advice. I hope the bees that I saw are alright. I thought that maybe the heat was affecting them but makes sense what youbread.
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fabindia
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Re: Bees so slugish

Post by fabindia »

Mo wrote:Yes, I also read that, while a spoonful of sugar water is good to revive a bee it is a BAD idea to put out bowls of sugar water as you will be overwhelmed with bees (they go back to the hive and tell the others where to find it, using a' waggle dance') and the bee-keeper will have sugar instead of honey.


I would say you should be able to revive an exhausted bee with a little sugary water . Mo is right in saying that it is probably not a good idea to leave lots of bowls around the garden. Bees are like the rest of use, if easy food (sort of bee junk food) is offered, then why go out searching. Also, you will attract wasps towards the end of summer as they go searching for sweet stuff.

Not strictly true that the bee keeper ends up with sugar instead of honey. Bees are very clever at refining sugar (inverting it) and so and anything they store in the combs will still be 'honey', though it may not have the same 'floral notes' as a wildflower. of heather honey. In fact, in the winter, a beekeeper will make sure the bees don't starve by feeding sugar water - I used to use just ordinary white sugar diluted down. It all boils down to the fact that bees don't make honey as an act of kindness for humans, but rather as a source of energy to store for themselves. So, if we rob them of their winter stores, they need to be helped out in other ways.
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Mo
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Re: Bees so slugish

Post by Mo »

The thing I read (probably a Facebook share) said that the beekeeper come be in trouble with trades description if they sold honey made from white sugar.
Yes, I used to feed my bees sugar for winter too.
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