You just found a honey bee. However, the honeybee looks trepidation, slow, and hurt. You think, "I want to take care of that honeybee." Well, there are several ways that can be done to treat injured honey bees. In addition, there are several important steps you can take to ensure that the honeybees in your area thrive.
Step
Method 1 of 3: Caring for a Honeybee That Can't Fly
Step 1. Warm the cold honeybee
Honey bees cannot fly at temperatures of 13 °C or less. If a honeybee looks normal but moves slowly or can't fly, it may be cold. Use a piece of paper, such as a playing card, to pick up the honeybee and take it to a warmer place. Once it's not cold, the honeybee will fly back!
If you must warm the honey bees indoors, place the bees in a container with a ventilated lid. Once the honeybees start to move more actively, take the container out and open the lid
Step 2. Dry the wet honey bee
If a bee falls into the water, get it out immediately! The bee's wings will probably be too wet to fly. Place the bees in a protected, sunny, dry place outdoors to allow their wings to dry. Ideally, put a bee on a flower!
Step 3. Feed the honey bee to help the healing process
If the bee has just caught a cold, you can feed it to help it heal. Mix 30% natural honey with 70% normal temperature drinking water. Use a dropper or eye dropper to drop the mixture where the bees can reach.
- Make sure you drip the mixture onto a sufficiently firm, non-absorbent surface.
- Do not drip the mixture directly over the bees.
- A balanced mixture of organic sugar and water can also be used.
Step 4. Examine the honeybee's wings
If you find a flightless bee in the summer or fall, the bee is probably old. Look closely at the two wings. If the tips of a bee's wings are uneven, it may be old and will soon die. However, the bee might still be able to do its job! Bring honey bees into the house to feed. After the bee is able to fly again, take it outside the house.
- If most of the bee's wings are intact, you may have just encountered a male worker bee who overworked and forgot to drink.
- Place the male bee in the sun and give him a mixture of honey and water. Once full, the male bee will return to work.
Step 5. Leave the honey bees alone
If the bee can still move, it will regain the power to fly after a while. He may be resting and should be left alone. This also applies to bees with uneven wings.
- If you feel compelled to give the bees water and honey, you can do so. After a few minutes, the bees will fly again.
- The best way to help bees is to place them on top of flowers. Nature will help the bee without your intervention.
Step 6. Treat the honeybee whose wings are damaged
Remember, the bee may not be able to fly, and one day it will die. However, bees will stay alive for a while if they are fed. Place the bees in a container with soil. Add water and some flower petals. You can also drip a mixture of water and honey over the leaves and place them in a container. Do not reattach broken wings with glue.
While butterfly wings can be reattached using acrylic glue, honeybee wings cannot be reattached this way. Honey bees are more difficult to handle and can be dangerous for you. Also, the honeybee wings are too small to reattach. Honey bees will also lick the glued wings and poison themselves
Step 7. Watch the honeybee which has tiny red arachnids on its body
You may not be able to recognize the arachnid. However, if a honeybee is covered in tiny red bugs, it may become infected with a parasite and cannot be saved. If after being warmed and fed the bee does not move, take it outside and leave. You will not be able to cure honeybees that are sick or infected with parasites.
Step 8. Do not touch the honey bee directly
Although a honey bee sting is harmless to some people, the sting can still be painful. You can wear gloves when handling the bee to avoid stinging it. However, your hands may not be as dexterous, which will hurt the bees. Instead, gently place a piece of paper under the bee to move it to a safe place. If you are allergic to bee stings, never touch honey bees.
Method 2 of 3: Helping Honey Bees Thrive
Step 1. Watch the queen bee in spring
If you find a large honeybee in the spring, when the weather starts to warm up again, the bee may be the queen bee! If he wakes up from hibernation too early, he may catch a cold. You can bring the queen bee into the house to warm and feed her. However, the queen bee must be released as soon as possible because the survival of the colony is very dependent on her return.
Generally, only the queen bee can survive the winter. He was responsible for establishing a new colony the following year
Step 2. Do not remove honey bee hives from your yard
Do not remove honey bee hives from your yard, unless a family member is allergic to bee stings or the beehive is too close. Bees build these hives for a specific purpose. Beehives that act as pollinators also have an important role in maintaining a declining bee population. In fact, most honeybees can only live for a few weeks.
Step 3. Treat the area the bees use for foraging in your yard
Choose plants that bees like. Large-scale agriculture has increased the dependence of bees on cultivated crops. Therefore, uncultured food sources are very important for bees. Plant clover, alfalfa, Vicia americana, daisies, and treads in your yard.
- Let trees and shrubs such as linden, black locust, honey locust, Elaeagnus angustifolia, wild plum, elderberry, maple, willow, Buddleja asiatica and camphory grow in your yard.
- Contact your nearest natural resource management office to find out what plants can help honey bees.
Step 4. Get rid of weeds by mowing the lawn or plowing the yard
While you'll still need to use herbicides or pesticides to kill certain pests, mowing the lawn or plowing the ground first can prevent the bees from dying from the pesticide. This is very important to do especially when weeds are starting to grow.
Cut off areas where Asclepias, Polygonum affine, and tread have grown before applying chemicals. Otherwise, these plants will be surrounded by bees
Method 3 of 3: Using Agrochemicals Wisely
Step 1. Do not spray pesticides while the bees are foraging
In other words, don't use insecticides when the plants are flowering! Most pesticides and insecticides carry a warning not to be used on flowering plants. Since flowers attract honey bees, insecticide sprayed flowers can reduce the bee population around you.
- Always follow the instructions for using pesticides. Choose short and low hazard products.
- Alfalfa, sunflower and canola are very attractive to honeybees. Therefore, take good care of this plant.
Step 2. Check the land before applying agrochemicals
To determine what to do first, survey the field to make sure that there are no honeybees foraging for food. You walk along the grounds and inspect the flowering plants. Remember, some plants that are in bloom will not always have colorful flowers.
Step 3. Determine the right time to apply the insecticide
Plants produce pollen and nectar for only a few hours each day. Therefore, make sure you check the land first before spraying agrochemicals, especially insecticides. Afternoon and early morning are ideal times. Do it at 8 pm or 6 am.
- If it gets very cold at night, spray the insecticide early. Cold weather makes insecticide poisons work longer. Therefore, do it early so that the bees are not poisoned when they return to the field.
- For corn plants, spray insecticide in the afternoon or in the middle of the night.
Step 4. Do not use pesticides that contain the chemical structure of nicotine (neonikotinoids)
Some pesticides are very harmful to bees and other insects. Neonikotinoids can spread on sprayed plants and poison the nectar or pollen. This type of pesticide can kill bees at any time. Pesticides containing neonicotinoids are usually sold to farmers as well as the general public.
Do not use agrochemicals containing imidacloprid. Imidacloprid is a neonicotinoid commonly found in agrochemical products. Remember, plants sprayed with these agrochemicals will be toxic to bees
Step 5. Consider that agrochemicals may be spread unintentionally
Agrochemicals may be blown by the wind and dispersed in erratic directions and distances. There are several things that can be done to overcome this problem. First, immediately contact the local beekeeper before using agrochemicals. Second, you can minimize the amount of agrochemical that is blown by the wind by reducing the spray pressure and adjusting the nozzle to allow the agrochemical droplets to expand.
Step 6. Use fungicides with care
Although not designed to kill honey bees, fungicides are still toxic when used under certain conditions and can harm bees. Fungicides can make it difficult for bees to find food. Although the fungicide Propiconazole does not harm bees, it is still toxic when mixed with certain surfactants, fertilizers, and insecticides.
