Months ago I remembered reading something a friend had posted to Facebook. It was an article about saving bees, particularly tired bees. The article went on to explain how sometimes people come across bees that appear sluggish and the assumption is that they are dying. However, in many cases the bees are simply tired from gather pollen and just need a simple boost with some sugar water to get back to the hive.
I remember the article all this time because I thought it was interesting, but I actually got to test it out for myself.
One day I was doing laundry and walking back and forth between my apartment and the laundry room. On one of my trips back I noticed a bee right at the foot of my doorstep. Instead of being startled by my presence and flying away he move slowly and didn't make any attempt to fly away. At first I thought he might be dying but I remembered the article and I noticed that his legs were dusted with pollen. I went to the Starbucks down the street to get some regular sugar packets and I mixed it into a small cup with water.
I used a piece of junk mail to move the bee and I ended up saturating it in my failed attempts to balance the spoon close enough to get him to drink the sugar water solution. But persistence paid off and he was able to drink some if it.
I balanced the piece of mail over my knee to get this shot. From above you can see the tiny flecks of golden pollen that washed off the bottom of the bee's fuzzy legs.
After a while the bee started to move around a little more and even started to use his wings. I put him back down on the ground with a few more drops of sugar water. When I came back outside a few minutes later he was gone. Hopefully this little guy was able to make it back to the hive. I'm so grateful I happened to read that article months ago.
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