Helping an Exhausted Bee in the Yard

Last night before it got dark outside, I spotted an exhausted Bumble Bee on this bush on top of a bright pink flower.

I don't know the name of this flower bush but the green bud will turn pink when it blooms.

I put the bumble bee on this green bud after she fell. I believe this is a small worker bee that is female. All worker bumble bees are female.

I felt so bad for this poor Bumble Bee. She could hardly move and seemed to be on her way out of this world.

I have read that you can help an exhausted bee with sugar water with a mixture of half white granulated sugar and half water. Use filtered water if possible. I filtered my water with a Brita Water Filter. Every morning I fill up 3 stainless steal bottles with filtered water for myself and take the bottles into my room I rent from my sister and nephew.

Please only give sugar water to bees if they are in dire need of food: if they seem to be dying or can hardly stay on a flower. If the bee is strong enough please encourage them to get on a flower for natural nectar and pollen. Please only use white granulated sugar!

This small Bumble Bee was difficult to try and feed the nectar/ sugar water to. I used a spoon but the bee didn't like the way the spoon felt and wouldn't get on it to drink the sugar water mixture I made for her. I felt sorry for the bee that was afraid of me and the spoon.

The weak little bumble bee fell to the bottom of the plant. I tried to scoop her up with the spoon but the bee insisted on climbing the stalk of the flower instead and I nudged her up the stalk with the spoon.

I dripped some sugar water on top of this green bud for the weak bumble bee to eat.

You can see part of a pink blooming flower on the left of the picture below.

I went outside this morning to check on the bee and she was more lively and even fluttered her wings without flying.

I went inside to put some nectar into a white plastic jar cap that was clean.
I brought the white plastic cap with sugar water outside and tried to give it to the bee to drink.

She flew a little ways and landed in the grass and hid from me. I decided to leave her alone and hoped she might come out in a while and fly away.

I felt really bad that I had not successfully helped the little bumble bee recover from exhaustion.

I learned that I should not have been so pushy to the tiny creature. Next time I will use a paper towel that a frightened weak little bumble bee might feel more comfortable walking and climbing on. It might feel more like a soft white flower to the bee.

Later on, in the early afternoon I went out on the porch and saw a lot of Bumble Bees feeding and gathering pollen on the yellow dandelions! I was so happy to see them and there were some big bumble bees and smaller bumble bees like the one I tried to help on the yellow flowers.

The little bee I helped is a worker bumble bee which are smaller than the other bumble bees.

The poor little bumble bee was too weak to want to sting me this morning. This picture was from this morning. It seemed that the bee came back to the purple flower for more help. I wasn't sure if this was the same bee because the bee from yesterday had a yellow stripe on her back.

The bumble bee from today had no yellow strip on her back. This tiny bumble bee is a western bumble bee that is in rapid decline in the state of Washington.

I made a cute little box for the tiny bumble bee from this morning and held her in my hand for a long time to warm her up. She seemed almost dead. It poured rain on the little bumble bee for I don't know how long. I turned on my bright sun box light for the bee too to bring her back to life.

Suddenly she was buzzing her wings and beginning to lift up, so I closed the top of the box and brought her outside and let her go. She flew high into the sky next door!

I truly hope she will be alright and live a full life of a worker bumble bee!

Many fertilizers contain toxic ingredients that kill bees, butterflies, and birds yearly. We must protect our pollinators. They help people grow food.

Please use bee friendly Fertilizers! Many fertilizers contain toxic ingredients that have been killing bees, butterflies and birds for 20 years or more. We must do everything we can to protect our pollinators. Thank you!

GMO Problem killing bees, butterflies, and birds.

Knowing what not to use and what not to buy will make a huge difference for pollinators.
Thank you.
Barb