It was mid-summer July when the gardening extends into the evenings. While coming out of the garage with my garden caddy, I noticed a large insect on the lid of a nearby garbage can. I needed the can and was sure that once I moved it, the insect would be on its way. Instead, it fell to the ground once I took the lid off. It was a bumblebee (I thought) and was moving around on the ground.
It’s never a good feeling when you expect something designed to fly away just falls down. After scooping up the bee onto a picnic table, the wings did not appear to be damaged. I carried on with nearby gardening but kept checking on the bee. It would soon be time to call it quits for the day, so now what?
Research revealed that plenty of others inquired about what to do if you find a bee that can’t fly. HoneybeeSuite.com recommends mixing a teaspoon of sugar to two teaspoons of water to help feed a struggling bee. Other sites recommended doing nothing because they don’t live that long anyway and let nature take its course. I decided to let the bee decide. I went ahead and mixed the sugar water. It was placed on several leaves with a syringe in a barrel planter with marigolds.
The barrel was moved onto the picnic table to secure it from the raccoons expected to arrive within a couple hours. The bee walked right through the leaves and chose a marigold to cling to. Its legs and antennae were still moving. If I was a bee in my final hours, I’d like to go out on a bed of marigolds. They’re soft and fluffy with an intoxicating scent.
As I gazed at the bee’s large head and legs, I had a flashback to the movie The Fly starring Jeff Goldblum. (I highly recommend this for the Halloween season. This version stayed with me for months. It was so creepy, it led to research about teleportation. Many before me had online discussions looking for closure with this movie.)
The next day I checked on the bee and there was no more movement. As life passed through its body, it still clung to the marigold. To my relief, I could hear nearby buzzing of another bee that has a nest above a privacy bench leaning against the garage. It was a message of “We will buzz on and carry our pollen.” Another message was “We are living in your garage.”
Yes, I’ve known about the nesting space for years and there have been different types of bees buzzing around it. There is a small piece of siding trim that fell off and the bees are in between the siding and the plywood wall of the garage. I never blocked the opening, even after a couple years of not noticing anymore bees. That would have been the time to do it.
Being wildlife-friendly, I never wanted to trap anyone inside. Put yourself in their position. They don’t see our property as ours. Perhaps our property is infringing on what was once all theirs. We need to work together. Once in a while, I’ll find a bee drowning in a birdbath and quickly scoop it out with a leaf or something. Once their wings dry, they fly on their way.
Bumblebees are fun. They’re big, fuzzy, pretty, and they make a cool buzzing sound. However, I discovered the bee I found was actually a carpenter bee. Similar to carpenter ants, carpenter bees like to make homes in wood. However, neither actually eat wood as termites do. According to the University of Kentucky (UKY), carpenter bees prefer unpainted, weathered wood, especially softer varieties such as redwood, cedar, cypress and pine.
Frankly, I’ve never heard of carpenter bees and they are often mistaken for bumblebees. The blurry picture above shows a couple yellow stripes and it felt furry. The lower portion of the bee’s body is a bit long, pointed, and shiny with no fur. Bumblebees are boxier in shape with more yellow stripes and fur covering their whole body. Other differences include bumblebees live in colonies while carpenter bees are solitary. Both are excellent pollinators.
Although carpenter bees can drill holes in wood, urbanwildlifecontrol.com states it is actually woodpeckers that can cause more damage to wood as they are after the sweet tasty larva of the bee. There is no shortage of information on how to kill bees and reasons why. However, there is also a wildlife-friendly population that supports how important they are for the environment. Some folks have actually made homes for carpenter bees with the wood they like as an alternative nesting site to keep them around.
Carpenter bees hibernate for the winter (UKY). If I seal the opening, they will have no choice but to drill out through the plywood into the garage in the spring, which might be worse. If I keep the open-door policy, they can come and go as they please. There is no damage to the interior plywood in the garage at this point, as far as I know. This carpenter bee certainly raised my awareness and I have mixed feelings. As for now, I’m not going to do anything other than keep an eye on things.
I understand that bees are essential. Absolutely. But I have been stung four times starting last fall. All on my own property. Never before in my life. What’s with that?!
If they become a menace to human existence then they must be dealt with. If there is a nest in the wall of a garage that may be doable. But a nest in the walls of a home can be dangerous.
Bees must not be allowed to endanger human life. They are necessary but they belong out there in the yard or in the prairie or the woods. Go pollinate like nice bees.
It sounds like you may have had a bad experience of bees in your home. I haven’t thought of this. Yes, this could be dangerous because of electricity. I was also stung by what I think was a bee. I was standing in my yard minding my own business and as far as I knew, was not posing a threat. There was sudden intense pain on my hand followed by a racing pulse and slight shortness of breath. I took Benadryl and deep breaths and was okay. Definitely something to remember.
I loved your article. It was nice to hear someone stick up for the insect world. Yes, there can be problems with bees. Someone gets stung or they can cause a little property damage. However, overall, all types of bees do a lot of good. Your excellent article made me think of how much we need them in our lives.
Me personally, I have raspberries in my yard. I love to watch the bumble bees going from flower to flower. They just keep going all day long. I have had many occasions when Mr. Bumblebee and I have been but a few inches apart. I am trimming and he is doing his job. Each of just side by side. I felt very good about your article. All of us should be more like you. Have compassion for all living things around.
Thank you. That’s a nice image of working alongside bees, each doing our work. I’ve had this happen when working with goldenrod.